The Synod: Book of Black Justice (Book II of God Rising)
by atheistbasementdragon
Summary: Neia Baraja faces the last great hurdle, presenting her god, as THE god of the New World. To do this she must marshal all her eloquence, present her sacred text in its entirety...and overcome the obstacles of a hidden enemy determined to keep the undead as anathema to all. The war is over, but the last battle begins.
1. The Book of the Child

Neia sat before the priests of the Synod, the room was large and round, and contained many levels, the priests of old gods and the followers of Black Justice were arrayed at her back, front, left, and right, but she sat upon the first level, where all could see the woman who had become a legend in the service of the god of justice. After the invocation, she was called upon to speak, she stood proudly and removed her visor, baring the eyes of the evangelist and moving to the center of the room with the confidence of the hellwalker, she opened her arms wide as if to embrace the room. "I am Neia Baraja, and I come to tell you of my god, that you may know him for what he is, and bow to him as all peoples should!" Her voice was filled with passion as she spoke, and she stilled the muttering that echoed the many tiered circular hall all the way down to where she stood, but raising her hands with her palms out.

"I will begin by giving to you the words of his sacred text, I have memorized them all, and I know many of you have never heard them, and as wise decisions cannot be made without knowledge, I will present them to you now!"

And then she began to recite...

**The Book of the Child...**

To be a child is to be the beginning. The foundation of what one is and what one will be, begins in the earliest youth, therefore by the will of the Sorcerer King, the God of Justice, all who have advanced beyond the beginnings of their lives should know how to behave towards those coming behind them.

B.C. 1-1 To shape the boy is to shape the man, to shape the girl is to shape the woman, if you in your old age do not wish to live under the dominion of a strong and evil youth, then you must shape children to do what is just and right, even against the desire to do wrong.

B.C. 1-2 Teach them first by deed and then by word, for though children may not always obey your words, they will often emulate your deeds.

B.C. 1-3 If they fall and cry for aid, will you not aid them, as you would wish to be aided when you fall and are unable to rise? Do this, and you fulfill the will of the world's true king.

B.C. 1-4 If you pluck out a child's eyes, are you then right in complaining they cannot see? Even as you show your worth by action, tell them the meaning of the things that you do, teach them how to think in terms of justice and injustice, that they may know why they must do right, even when wrong is easy and profitable.

B.C. 1-5 Where there is knowledge of how to think, there is no need to tell what to think, therefore guide the child through reason to know and understand all things.

B.C. 1-6 Know that as the child needs father and mother alike, they also need their neighbors near and far, even those they have not met, teach them to find their place within their community, that they be a boon and not a bane to those both near and far.

An Encounter with the Sorcerer King

B.C. 1-7 …It happened one day that as I walked with the God of Justice through the city of Shurapak, a place you surely know, my lord and I beheld a sight that displeased him. -8 A boy who seemed to favor the attentions of a girl, who for her part did not seem to favor him, grew too familiar. -9 He reached to touch her body, and though she strove to pull herself beyond his reach, he came near to her again, indifferent to her desire for distance. -10 My lord, in his wisdom, came near to them and towered over the boy, and spoke to him. -11 My lord said unto the lad, "Why are you doing this thing you should not do? Is it not clear that she does not wish to be touched? Is not her body her own? How can you claim to like her, if you will not allow her the sanctity of her own skin?" -12 My lord is a fearsome figure. The God of Justice exudes power from his frame and could have crushed the boy without laying a hand upon him, yet instead he chose to speak to reason first. -13 The boy was silent, and my lord continued, "If you wish your body's autonomy to be respected by others, then offer that to others in turn. Your actions shape the expectations of those around you, apologize to the girl, and be on your way, and know that you will be held accountable for your choices, to your father, your mother, your children yet to come, and the community which surrounds you." -14 This my lord did, and the boy, shamefaced and red at his misdeed, made his apology to the girl and went on his way without further trouble.

B.C. 1-15 It is the obligation of the elder to guide the younger in their thinking, and teach them empathy and in seeing others as they see themselves, to understand better how inconsistent it is that they expect to be well treated themselves, while mistreating those around them.

B.C. 1-16 To strike a child is to tell them that to strike others is acceptable, do you not see the cycle of violence that this creates, a climate of fear where there should be trust? Which thought do you desire in the mind of your child? "I'm in trouble, I should speak to my parent." Or "I'm in trouble, I'd better hide this from them." -17 To strike as the course of discipline is to teach them to lie to you, to hide from you, to mistrust you, and to teach them that power alone is the basis for your rule, and in turn when you become aged and weak, and they are young and strong, what power will they exert over you in turn? -18 The basis of your authority will become the basis for their own, think well on this before you raise your hand to the small and weak who must depend upon you.

The Blackened Eye

B.C. 1-19 The Sorcerer King was moving through a village, walking as was his custom, that he may see the people and the people might see their king, when he came across a boy with a blackened eye. -20 Seeing this, he approached the boy and asked after the cause, which was revealed to be an angry mother. -21 Though full of obligations, the Sorcerer King in his grace asked the boy to lead the way to his home, and so he found himself before a small cottage with a woman tending the front. -22 Seeing the boy leading the greatest monarch ever to grace the world sent her into shock, but she knelt before him as was proper and he bade her rise and account for the injured state of the child. -23 When called to answer, she explained that the boy had failed to obey her properly. -24 Thereupon the King asked the boy if this was true, and the boy confirmed that it was so. -25 "What did she ask you to do?" He asked the boy, who replied that he was asked to gather extra firewood. -26 "Will you do it next time?" He asked of the lad, who promised that he would, and then the Sorcerer King asked, "Why?" -27 This perplexed both the mortals, and the boy answered, "So I don't get hit." -28 The Sorcerer King then turned to the mother and asked, "Did you tell him to gather firewood so that he would not get hit, or did you tell him to gather firewood because you required it for some purpose?" -29 The boy's mother replied that she needed extra wood because she needed to heat the cottage as well as prepare food, and then he asked, "Did you tell him that?" to which she replied that she had not. -30 "Boy, do you desire a cold house to sleep in tonight, or a warm one?" the Sorcerer King asked, and the boy answered, "A warm one!" to which the King replied in turn, "Then you need more wood than usual, don't you?" and the boy acknowledged that this was so. "Then go and gather it." He said, and the boy went to his chore.

B.C. 1-30 The boys mother then asked of the king, "My lord, he should obey me without question should he not?" -31 The Sorcerer King replied to this by saying, "If he does not ask questions, he does not gain answers, if he does not gain answers, he does not gain knowledge, if he does not gain knowledge, he will be helpless. If all you teach is to obey to avoid pain, he will end up avoiding you in all things, and you will teach him that pain infliction is the means to gain what he wants, and he will know no other way. And too, if he asks you questions, it is because he trusts that you will answer him truthfully, would you prefer he mistrust you?" -32 "Yet my lord," the woman answered, "How am I to discipline him, and when?" -33 "A child requires discipline when reason cannot reach them, when they stray, guide them gently back to the right path, deprive them of their privileges or the benefits that flow from you, and let them bear, within the bounds of safety and reason, the consequences of their actions. -34 Tonight would be a chill one, but it would not be dangerous, let him bear the consequence of a cold room one night, and explain in the morning what the extra was for, and he will be wiser, and recognize your wisdom, not merely act out of fear."

B.C. 1-35 The values of a child will be as the values of the parent are, show them the meaning of generosity to neighbors, by bringing them to see generous acts done, speak to them of the why even as you show them the what. -36 Do not wonder that your child is ungenerous, if they did not learn generosity from you. -37 Do not wonder that your child strikes younger children, if you as an elder parent strike your younger child. -38 Do not wonder that your child laughs at misfortune, if you show them that misfortune is funny. -39 Do not wonder that your child is ignorant and does not learn, if you failed in the paramount duty of teaching them the value of learning. -40 Do not wonder that your child will not read a book, if you do not read to them when they are small.

B.C. 1-41 Teach them that among the greatest of values is the acquisition of knowledge, and the love of it for its own sake, and from that fertile soil will wisdom grow.

B.C. 1-42 Teach them the value of their integrity, that the bond of trust between even strangers meeting across the counter in a shop, is worth more than the coin trading hands. -43 What world will you have for yourself if no man can trust another and no woman trust her lover and no shopper trust a shop keep and no shop keeper trust his banker and no farmer his laborer and no laborer their employer? -44 It is a world of nightmare, where every hand is turned against every other, or clutching close that which is valued for fear that it will be taken from them. -45 Teach them the value of common trust and the vital need that one must place faith in another, and that this faith in each other is impossible if they do not act as if it is well placed.

The Sorcerer King Encounters Loose Change

B.C. 1-46 It happened one day that the Sorcerer King was walking through E-Rantel, when he espied a young boy whose coin purse, which had clearly seen better years before that one, reached its last day before his eyes, it tore and copper coins spilled out onto the sidewalk, clinking and clattering everywhere. -47 The boy was much distressed by this, and those around him dropped to their hands and knees upon the stone and began to gather them up. -48 The Sorcerer King approached, and picked up a few himself, and handed them over to the boy. -49 The others present, seeing his returning of the lost coin, handed their own over as well. -50 To which the boy said, "Thank you, but you are the King, why did you do that?"

-51 To which the Sorcerer King replied, "Because I am the King. -52 None are too high above others to do right by those below them, and I shall have the citizens that I accept. If I am a thief, then I shall have a nation of thieves. -53 "If I am to have the trust of others, I must show that I am worthy of being trusted, if I had walked away with what I gathered, then perhaps others would have done the same." He said and gestured to those who were one by one, handing in what they had taken. -54 By setting the example as is my duty, I set the standard for all others. -55 In this, even a peasant can stand equal before their god, as each of you serves as example to the other, showing your virtue as honest men and women, and deciding by your choices, to steal or return what is lost and found again, and in so doing, shape the nature of your entire community, and through it, the world. -56 You see me but little, but one another daily, who then is truly influential? -57 Therefore should your influence not be virtuous?"

B.C. 1-58 Teach children to take what they wish, and they will take from you as soon as they are able, teach them to give what they can, and they will grow to give to you as you have given to them. -59 Teach them to abide in patience and they will not act rashly and in haste. -60 If you teach them to sneer at the honest tailor and revere the bad noble, then you will create a community of both bad tailors and bad nobles, never shame honest labor, shame instead that which destroys honest labor. -61 The noble who does not do his part is not to be revered, nor is the honest tailor who gives his labor to creating warm clothing in winter and enduring clothing that survives hard labor to be reviled. -62 Will you be surprised when you lack good food because the farmers were mocked into departure, or that your bankers have stolen all your wealth when you revere the wealthy no matter how ill gotten their gains? -63 In all these things, children must be guided, for as your fathers and mothers are the past, and you are the present, they are the future, a future that you will live long enough to either bask in…or suffer through, according to the foundation you laid in them. -64 Teach them to know their duties, for all have duties, to do what they can with what they have, in the times and places they find themselves.

A Lesson in Duty

B.C. 1-65 As a certain person of high station was traveling with the Sorcerer King, they spoke of their duties and their place in the world, and the person of high station said to him, "What is my duty here, do you think?" -66 The Sorcerer King in his vast wisdom, looked around and saw down an alleyway, and there near where it exited onto the street, there lay a figure who personified poverty and want. -67 The Sorcerer King led this person over to the alley where the figure lay, and said, "What do you see?" -68 I see a man, poor, unkempt, and hungry. He is weak, perhaps sick, asleep in the day perhaps because he dared not sleep at night." -69 To which the Sorcerer King said, "Are you in front of this man, present at the time he is also, have you the resources to address his dire need and ease his pains and heal his sickness, and have you the power to act?" -70 To which this person said, "I do. I am an Emperor, of vast wealth and power second only to your noble self, I have the facilities to care for him and the means to end his hunger, I can save his life, and he is before me now where I can see him." -71 "Then is that not your duty? -72 The duty of those with the means and power to act as they should, is to do so. Were you not an emperor, were you but a peasant in this city, your duty would differ only in the degree to which you act. -73 A peasant with ten coins cannot address everything, but a community of many can, and you are the personification of that obligation of the whole. -74 If all give some, then none need lose all. -75 What purpose to power if not to act on it? What value is wealth that sits in an otherwise empty room? -76 Duty is defined by our ability to effect a change, whether it is a peasant shopkeeper or whether one stands a noble or an emperor, or even a god, every living…and unliving figure is party to this world and bears duties to it that pertain to the needs of those around us, and even in the smallest action, the peasant stands as a god, in that they can change the world how they see fit by doing even their smallest duty well."

B.C. 1-77 Children must pursue strength, but not all strength is identical, do you yell at the birds that they do not sound like dogs? -78 Shall you yell at the rooster that it is not laying eggs? -79 Shall you yell at the cow that it has yet to build a barn? -80 No. -81 Justice by strength relies on many strengths coming together, just as the body is made of many parts, so too is justice forged by many strengths. -82 Seek to excel in all things, and in the end excellence will come in nothing. -83 Instead teach the child to value new experience, new knowledge, and in trying these things, they will find their own strength, where the eldest son may make a great warrior, his sister might be a great scholar, and her mother a great writer and their father a wise farmer. -84 There is no wrong in not being the equal of the great in all things, the wrong rests in not doing anything and expecting all things to be given over anyway. -85 Do not curse the child for their failure, nor abuse their fragile hopes of excellence, rather praise their effort that they tried a new thing and pursued something rather than doing nothing. -86 Teach them the value in trying what they have not tried before, and in so doing, they will find their place in the world. -86 If their instrument is not the same as yours, what of it? -87 The music of community has many voices and many instruments, and if sung and played in harmony with an eye to the common good, they will find their place in the world, and if they have done this, then you as a parent have done well.

The Sorcerer King Encounters a Laborer

B.C. 1-88 The Sorcerer King was visiting Carne one day, being given a tour by a certain famous general, who was a native of the town, and while there they passed a site where a new building was being erected. -89 There they saw a laborer being spoken to harshly by a passerby, a man of evident wealth, and the Sorcerer King, in his greatest of wisdom, chose to inquire as to why the passerby was cruel to the laborer. -90 "What does it matter your majesty, he is but a laborer is he not, and he was in the way. -91 Perhaps I should not have gotten angry, but what was wrong with what I said?" -92 The Sorcerer King then chose to ask the laborer what he was doing, and the laborer explained that he was clearing the road of fallen debris from a cart that carried materials to the site. -93 He pointed to the building, and the Sorcerer King asked what the building was to be, and the laborer explained that it was to be temporary housing for the soldiers who would be returning from the war, who would need a place to stay as they sought new residences. -94 The Sorcerer King then said to the wealthy man, "Would you have spoken as harshly to the architect of that building?" -95 To which the man admitted he would not have. -96 "Then you should also not speak harshly to this man, though he is a common laborer, without the labor of his hands, this building could not rise, will the materials gather themselves from the street and go to where they are needed?" -97 The wealthy man had no good answer for this, and so the Sorcerer King said, "All who contribute, share in the legacy of the labor, whether a great architect or whether mining rock from hard earth or clearing a road to bring the materials together. Every honest man is noble in his honesty and valuable for his contribution." -98 It pleases the God of Justice that all are treated justly, in deference to virtue and to labor and to wisdom. -99 It is therefore paramount that children be guided in all these things, first by deed, and second by word.

B.C. 1-100 To fail in these things is to create weakness in the social fabric that is still being sewn in the form of growing children, and this weakness is a sin that the future will not forgive, nor will the Sorcerer King overlook.

**AN: Well here you go, the first chapter of Ainz Ooal Gown's sacred text, as compiled by Neia Baraja as a result of her letters to his majesty, her experiences, direct observations, and interviews with those who were with him. :) Now, in case you're wondering, this chapter was a commissioned work, paid for by a charitable donation to bdgiving dot org. This donation helped stock a pharmacy in Uganda. So if you're about to complain that you didn't get a chapter of God Rising, and instead I chose to stock an impoverished area with medicine...well what the hell is wrong with you?**

**Plus, I really liked doing this, and will add more chapters to it in the future. If you enjoyed this glimpse into the religion of Black Justice, leave a positive review...join my discord server, become a supporter at dot com slash godrising, or donate to the charity organization previously mentioned.**


	2. On Justice

_…Synod of Arwinter…_

"You have given us much to think on, Neia Baraja, yet for all that, there remains more to be said, your organization speaks often of justice, and I will admit that I have been impressed by your standards of conduct in war and in peace, however how do we know that what you do is in service to your god, or to yourselves?" A priest said from two circles up.

Neia wanted to fume, but she was now an expert in this game, and she came prepared, specifically with the edicts of her lord and what it meant to him to be just.

"Noble priest, your words are not without merit, after all, how could you not ask such a question if you have never seen nor heard his sacred text? I am sure that if things were different, I would be asking the same questions you are."

She walked around the center at the base of the great circle, eyes followed her every motion, and she met countless eyes with her burning gaze of absolute confidence. "It is because you ask this question, and I believe you do so with sincere heart and an eye towards the truth of our god's divine nature, that I will answer your question in full, here and now."

"You will?" The priest asked, seeming to be surprised at the bluntness of Neia Baraja as she addressed not only him, but the burning curious eyes of a very large body of priests.

"Yes, I will. I will now tell you the contents of the Book of Black Justice, with a recitation of our book on Justice itself, which is the second chapter out of our sacred text." She said, and then in a sonorous attention grabbing voice, she began to recite…

The Book of Black Justice

-On Justice-

J 1-1 Justice can favor no rank, it can favor neither man nor woman, it can favor neither child nor parent, no noble and no peasant, when in court, all are beneath the judge, the voice of the law.

J 1-2 What is just for man is just for woman, what is just for woman is just for man, if it is unjust for one it must be unjust for the other, all must be equal before the law, bearing like penalties and seeing justice done in kind for them both.

J 1-3 These are your commandments, the guiding principles of Black Justice and submission to the Sorcerer King, know that these are not the whole of the law, and all must be reflected upon for their intent, so that when exceptions appear to exist, proper modification of behavior may be undertaken to keep to their spirit, even if violating their letter:

The Ten Commandments

I. You shall own no person as property, neither man, nor woman, nor child may be owned as beast or object, this holds true for all thinking intelligent beings. -4

II. You shall only profit by mutual benefit between the exchange of willing trade, no profit shall be considered just if it is done by dishonesty, deception, theft, or fraud. -5

III. No intimacy may be compelled, you may not touch those who do not wish your touch, embrace those who do not wish your embrace, nor may consent be acquired by threats, violence, or extortion. -6

IV. Preserve life wherever possible -7

V. Do not seek to begin by violence, but never forget the right, duty, and necessity of defending yourself or the defenseless. -8

VI. Honor those who deserve by their conduct, to be honored. -9

VII. Obey those who reason tells you deserve to be obeyed. -10

VIII. Favor truth, even at cost to yourself, but know that your first duty is to preserve honest lives. -11

IX. You are to be held accountable for your actions, even if acting on another's orders -12

X. Give more unto the world than you take from it, for there are others coming after you -13

J 1-14 Justice lies in right action. -15 Right action can only be undertaken by knowing the meaning of right and wrong. -16 To do right means to enhance and benefit the health, happiness, and wellbeing of others. -17 To do wrong means to work harm to the health, happiness, and wellbeing of others. -18 All moral questions may be answered by asking after those three standards. -19 Who cannot do right without threat of punishment or promise of reward stands either as ignorant as a small child or is only a predator on a fragile leash.

J 1-20 Living beings require other living beings to thrive and to prosper in security, therefore the true reward of right living is a just society in which you yourself are also able to thrive and prosper.

J 1-21 Never trust anyone for whom accountability is an outrage.

J 1-22 Reflect upon the expression of your justice, and the meaning of it, to develop your moral reason and moral thought.

J 1-23 Know why you believe an action to be right or wrong, and be willing and able to defend it, in this way you will refine your understanding of your own justice.

J 1-24 Fear is not justice, and those who wish you to live in fear, are almost certainly your enemies, hoping to take advantage of your fear for their gain.

J 1-25 A good man does not take what belongs to someone else.

J 1-26 If you see the hungry, the poor, the weak, the sick, the lame, see them not as the other, see instead only yourself as you might have been, and act towards them as you would wish to be acted upon in their place.

J 1-27 To deprive someone of life or the means to stay alive, due to their poverty, is barbarism most foul.

J 1-28 All honest scales are good, all dishonest ones are not.

J 1-29 The rights of the body remain beyond death, do not dispose of the flesh in ways displeasing to the wishes of the deceased as expressed in life.

J 1-30 Fear not to ask questions, prefer questions without answers, to answers that are not to be questioned.

J 1-31 Justice has seldom come from ignorance, therefore pursue knowledge and revere the good teacher.

J 1-32 Justice is action, to be able to act is to have power, therefore justice comes from power, but not all power is just, it must be measured against its outcomes.

J 1-33 Even the most just may make mistakes, but only the fool persists in error.

J 1-34 Never fear to change your moral answer if your current answer has failed to make for a better community with respect to the three standards.

J 1-35 If you wish to know if your community is just, then ask yourself if you would feel anxiety or fear if you were born to the ranks of the least of its members. -36 If you would, then your community must be reformed.

J 1-37 An unjust society creates injustice.

An Encounter with the Sorcerer King

J 1-38 There came a day where the Sorcerer King, his exalted majesty, was walking the streets of a great capital with a man of great renown, and there together they encountered a starving child. -39 This child had played the thief, attempting to steal bread on which to live another day, and the owner of the shop was in the midst of beating her for her crime. -40 The Sorcerer King asked after the circumstances, and being informed of her theft, he asked why she did not buy bread for herself. -41 It was then that the girl stated her lack of options, she had only her body to trade, as she had escaped as a slave, she had neither skills nor hope nor family. -42 The Sorcerer King inquired with the great man and the baker as to whether she had done wrong, and where the baker said yes, the great man said no. -43 The Sorcerer King then offered to let the baker starve for thirty days to see how long it would be before he snatched a loaf of bread that was forbidden him, and he went silent. -44 The Sorcerer King then asked the great man if 'he' had done wrong himself, to which the great man expressed confusion. -45 You rule over this land and these people, is it just that they starve? -46 If you create the kind of society in which a person must either steal or starve, then you are as guilty of theft as they are, for you steal their lives to protect loaves of bread.

J 1-47 It is a poor community which protects the interests of the few at the expense of the wellbeing of the many.

J 1-48 The price of a functional society that is worthy of survival, is that the labor of the lowest and the least is not a cause for scorn if it be honest, and that their lives and wellbeing are provided for by that society out of deference for the vital labors they perform. -49 To be the least is not to be sentenced to death for the penalty of poverty.

J 1-49 If you are not bettering the world, you are leeching from it.

J 1-50 What use is a community that does not look out for its own? -51 Therefore never fear to ask, what can be done better, for more?

J 1-51 Who looks down at man, woman, or child as a lesser, is a lesser themselves.

J 1-52 Who says to you "I love you" then raises their hand to wound or strike you, lies to you of their love. -53 It is just that you part ways from them, depart from them and abjure them, reject them for the lie they have told and know you merit more than that.

J 1-54 Who among the world has done no wrong? -55 No, not even one is fully innocent, yet it is unjust to demand perfection of the imperfect. -56 Therefore if you have done wrong once, strive to do right the second time, and where possible, make right the wrong you have done before.

J 1-57 If you wrong your neighbor, make amends to your neighbor, if you wrong your child, ask forgiveness of your child, the only forgiveness that matters, can come from the ones that have been wronged.

J 1-58 When the one who wrongs you asks forgiveness, you grant it for yourself to be made whole, not for the wrongdoer to feel relief. -59 Therefore offer and accept forgiveness only where it is sincerely meant, and then, only because you the wronged wishes to do so.

J 1-59 Fair trade comes only through equality both under the law and with an eye to mutual gain, imposed trade out of fear or threats is extortion.

J 1-60 Justice cannot exist without the courage to speak out against injustice.

J 1-61 It is easier to steal from one whose neighbors tolerate the theft, but a neighborhood that tolerates no theft sees all neighbors secure.

J 1-62 When the fighting is over, tend to the wounded, spare the lives of the defeated as you also would wish to be spared, and end no life that need not be ended.

J 1-63 Do not make war upon those who are not fighting.

J 1-64 Do not make playthings out of the bodies of the dead, nor the bodies of the living. -65 That a woman's husband, father, or son fought against you, does not entitle you to punish her or her children or her community.

J 1-66 War is the last resort of the just, the first resort of the unjust, and is loved only by those who do not have to fight it.

J 1-67 Do not make children the pawns of war.

An Encounter with the Sorcerer King's justice

J 1-68 It once happened that a certain general of the Sorcerer King's army was besieging a city of the Southern Holy Kingdom, and within this city there was an educator entrusted with the care of the children of many of the city's most important leaders. -69 This educator…desiring to ingratiate himself with who he saw as the likely victors, took these very young children with him over the wall in the dead of night and presented them to the general of the Sorcerer King. -70 He promised that with these children as hostages, the city would capitulate. -71 The general, a moral man, not only rejected the offer, he halted the siege of the city after sending a message to the city fathers as to what had happened. -72 He then, under flag of truce, brought the children and the corrupt educator to the walls so they could be raised up and returned to their parents and to the justice of the city. -73 Trade not a child's life for convenience.

J 1-74 Debt is never to be a form of slavery. -75 Where repayment is made impossible, terms must be adjusted according to conditions that make it possible.

J 1-76 Weakness can never create justice, therefore pursue strength to the greatest degree.

J 1-77 Strength may come in many forms, physical, mental, financial, moral, and more, find your strength to find your path to justice and its expression in your life.

J 1-78 Examine your life often and ask if it is the life you wish to live, and if it is being lived as it ought to be.

J 1-79 If you are blessed, then you must be a blessing in turn to those around you, else your blessing is like unto a thick blanket in the summer heat, useless to all, needed by none.

J 1-80 Your actions decide the justice of your community, make them wise ones.

J 1-81 To deprive the innocent of their freedom of choice and of movement is as unjust as it is to deprive the living of their lives.

J 1-82 The limit of your right to act is limited by the impact of your actions on those around you. If you poison the river upstream so that it sickens the neighbor downstream, you are guilty of a grave injustice.

J 1-83 Neither justice nor wisdom require fear. -84 Therefore it is often the unjust which promote false terrors.

J 1-85 Justice is seldom had by a belief in what is false. -86 Believe only what is evidently true, and until it is evidently true, withhold belief accordingly. -87 Apportion your belief to the degree that claims of truth are verified. -88 If a claim cannot be shown to be true or to be false, you are not obligated to believe it.

J 1-86 It is unjust to promote falsehoods as truth, or to claim as true that which has not been shown to be true.

An Encounter with the Sorcerer King

J 1-87 There was an occasion where the Sorcerer King was passing through E-Rantel, and as he walked, he heard a merchant hawking his wares, which among them included a healing potion that he claimed could cure even the most grievous injuries instantly. -88 Because our lord, the god of all Justice, is a river of prosperity, security, health, and happiness to all his people, this drew his attentive eyes and he approached the seller for a demonstration, because the price being asked was far below the typical cost of producing such things. -88 The merchant was happy to do this, and called forth a volunteer, only for the Sorcerer King to stop the volunteer in his tracks, and instead demand that the merchant try his product on himself. -89 The merchant of course wanted nothing to do with this notion, and he sought to ply all manner of excuses upon the ears of our almighty lord, yet the Sorcerer King, his majesty, the one true king over all other kings, would have none of it and gave the order that it be done. -90 The merchant bore a minor cut and was told he must use the potion to demonstrate its effectiveness. -91 The potion failed the test given by the Sorcerer King, and on further investigation it was found that the potion was nothing but water, dye, and cheap herbs, and the 'potion' was worth not even one one-hundredth of what the seller was asking for it, as it could not do what it was advertised to do, any better than time itself or even the cheapest of common healing potions. -92 This seller, sells no more in any of the lands of the Sorcerer King.

J 1-93 They that live by preying on the just, the innocent, and the weak, are not entitled to the safety to continue to do so, the limits of their rights under such a way of life, are the limits of the law with respect to their trial for their misdeeds.

J 1-94 Wealth gained by service to the community or to the wider world is wealth that has been justly gained.

J 1-95 All those foreigners who travel in your lands shall be granted justice identical to that which is granted to you, they may not be harmed or exploited, stolen from or violated, sold or deceived, justice for one cannot be held in common faith if justice is not granted for all, for all are citizens of the world first, and the nation after that.

J 1-96 It is unjust to expect to be treated better than you yourself treat others.

J 1-97 If you bribe the judge, are you surprised when the judge can be bribed to turn against you? -98 Therefore tolerate no corruption in your officials, even where you might gain thereby.

J 1-99 Punishment must be apportioned according to the severity of the crime.

J 1-100 Justice is known by example, therefore do justly, and you will have justice, if no example is set, no justice will be had, know when to obey and whom, and also when not to obey, remembering that to be just first requires that you be accountable to your conscience, then to your household, your neighbors, your community, your city, your kingdom, and to the god of justice whom you serve, abide in this knowledge, and you will prosper.

**AN: Well here is the other chapter of my commissioned work, and I hope you found this worth reading. Don't expect a lot of action in this story, Neia is presenting before the Synod of Arwinter, there will be chapters where she merely defends her beliefs and where she only presents her sacred text before the priests of the New World, adding depth to the conflict by showing that their religion is not just slapped on as an afterthought by the author, but one which could, magic aside, actually function within a real society. What can I say, I fucking love world building.**

**Now, if you want to support this author's efforts, you may do so at my patrion dot com slash godrising (replace the i in patrion with an e. The filter cuts it off if I spell it correctly).**

**If you wish to support my charitable works, you may do so at bdgiving dot org.**

**If you wish to get advance looks at the works of either this author or more recently 'A Learning Man' who also betas on my discord, well take the invite and come join us all on my discord server, its a great supportive and positive community.**

**And if you don't want to do any of that...that's OK too! Just leave a review so I can hear your thoughts. :) **


	3. Riposte

The Book of Black Justice

Chapter 3

_…Synod of Arwinter…_

"…Yet there have always been only six gods!" A priest seated high above Neia Baraja said firmly.

"NO!" Neia replied emphatically. "We know there was a time when there were no gods at all! Do your scriptures not state that the six great gods you worship 'descended' to the world? And that they did so six hundred years ago? Where were they then? Did they not come from another place with their impossible materials and overwhelming might? Did they not come to us, rather than always being among humanity? Had they been among humanity, would we have needed them to save us in the first place?!" Neia asked, pointing high up at the elderly figure as she asked her question. She did not wait for an answer, she whirled around and then began to pace the center stage around the tables laid out for her use.

"I tell you that wherever the ones you called gods came from, they are no longer here. They have left this world and have not descended to fight for humanity since that time. I tell you that now a new god has emerged, who is clearly far more powerful than any being ever to visit this world before. Can anyone here tell me which being showed the kind of power displayed on the Katze Plains?"

Silence greeted her, it was a silence Neia played to fervently as she allowed it to stretch out. "Can any of you tell me of a power displayed by the old gods that was equal to the destructive power of Jaldabaoth?" She probed further, her haunting, terrifying eyes catching people, demanding an answer, and receiving only a shrinking away and a thunderous silence.

"When the six great gods of old, as you call them, established the first human nation, did they do it in a day, or over the span of years?" She asked. She received no answer, so she pointed at an elderly woman, a priestess of the god of light, by her attire. "You, how long did it take?"

The woman stroked her chin thoughtfully, looking for some trick and finding none, she said, "The first human kingdom established by the gods was formed over a six year period of conquest, expansion, and the rescue of human slaves and other captives. The gods did a great work in that time, and saved us, their chosen people, from destruction." She smiled in satisfaction, her wrinkled face bore the marks of one who had spent many years smiling, so Neia was not pleased by having to take it from her now, yet the will of the Sorcerer King would be done, and so she took the old woman's smile away with her next words.

"The Sorcerer King established his own nation in one single day, and his liberation of my nation from a power vastly greater by the tacit admission of this esteemed body, took him a single year. Moreover, in a matter of a few weeks, he conquered the Abelion Hills, an area that was never captured by the six great gods and which spans the distance that the gods of old took three years to seize for humanity. What is more, the saving of my country was done against both demons and demihumans. You all know the power of the demon maids he claimed, each of them displayed power on par or nearly so, to the power of any of the demon gods that were sufficient to defeat Surshana. Yet not only did he fight a power vastly greater than anything the old gods ever revealed, he fought those four demons as well! If any of the gods you turn to had done this, you would call it the strongest of the gods! So why then…why do you not acknowledge the Sorcerer King for the god he very clearly is?! Neia asked to the synod's attendees, holding her arms out openly, as if to embrace them all.

Lakyus sat smirking down at Neia from her seat among the priests and priestesses of the god of water, she was thoroughly enjoying this. Neia had refused her private offer to script questions that would allow her to better account for her position, but that did not mean that Lakyus could not offer some measure of help regardless. In her heart of hearts, the figure who gave her sister peace, who perhaps saved her family…was on par with any deity. In quiet nights, in the darkness alone when Evileye was not with her, she wondered…had she not seen the changes wrought by the Sorcerer King…could she have struck down her precious little…older sister? Could she have killed Keeno? It tortured her sometimes and more than once, she'd woken up in the embrace of the little vampire, grateful to still find her still with her, fearing a terrible dream to be real. Acceptance of her sister had brought her guilt for her past failings, and her private apostasy was made more easily borne by contrast. Now, here, at the Synod of Arwinter, she could repay a debt to the Sorcerer King by proxy, by aiding Neia Baraja, and also create a world where Keeno did not need a mask to avoid scorn, hatred, and fear.

As a motive, it was a strong one, and so she stood and asked, "You say he is strongest of the gods, that he is wise and just, why you have even said that he IS justice, why then does he accept demihumans…heteromorphs…monsters, beings who are enemies of humanity, as his citizens?"

"Who here has been to E-Rantel or Carne?!" Neia answered with a shout. Many hands went up. "Keep your hands up if you saw demihumans, giants, dragons, heteromorphs, even vampires, living and working there!" Hands remained in the air. "Did anyone see a vampire consume a human? Did anyone see an ogre devour children? Did anyone see demihumans and humans fighting outside of the arena in safe contest? Tell me who saw any 'enemy of humanity' perpetrate a crime against any human! Keep your hand up if you did!" Hands went down.

"If they were our enemies, why were they not attacking us? Why were they working honestly and living well and doing justly? Is this what enemies do? Did you not see at Carne how the humans kept the walls with elves who traded night shifts with vampires and quagoa? Did you not see dwarves and ogres building great structures or the undead farming under human control? The enemies of humanity are not born! They are made by choice! Who lives beside me is my neighbor, who fights beside me is my brother or my sister, who dies for me is my example, who sweats and bleeds beside me is my hero, who lives to make tomorrow better is the true servant of my god!"

She paced around the room again, meeting every gaze and chilling everyone who heard her to the bone, "That is what my sacred scriptures say! That is the justice of my god! The one true god!" She said with adamantite conviction, "The old gods did not achieve this, the new god has, he has destroyed ALL the enemies of humanity!"

There were confused glances around as people struggled to puzzle out her words. "He has destroyed our enemies, by making us friends, brothers, sisters, comrades, neighbors! He has given us the greatest nation the world has ever seen or ever will see! He and he alone!" She pointed up as if to heaven, to the right light of the sun which shone through the open ceiling to illuminate her as if she were an angel, "I tell you now that the enemies of humanity are those who would tear us apart! Who would set elf against human, dwarf against quagoa, dragon against them all, and send vampires flying into the night instead of living peacefully in the light! In all the Sorcerous Empire, there has not been a single rogue vampire attack! Instead, people have given freely, and vampires protect us all, while at the same moment, we have also protected them! All who keep to the laws of our divine king, the supreme one, are accorded a place in our familial nation! Is that not just?! Is it not right that those who live in peace be left in peace?! These are the very words of my scriptures!"

"But he is undead!" a priest shouted.

"Yes…yes he is." Neia said, her voice descending into a whisper that echoed from wall to wall and carried from ear to ear, and yet for its quietness it had lost not an iota of its power, "He is undead, he is the undying king, he, fit to rule forever, he stands apart from us…in a distant way that no being, not even the six great gods of old ever did." She approached a priest sitting at ground level and removing her glove, she touched his face and met his eyes with an emotive gaze of her own. "He has given the greatest sacrifice that any being ever truly could." Her voice caught in her throat as she forced out the words, "You have all felt the warmth of the sun, the tender softness of the flesh of a loved one giving way beneath your touch, the warmth of good food in your belly, the taste of sweet wine on your tongue…all these things you know intimately, so well that you cannot fathom their absence…yet he has them not!" She swept her gaze around the room again. "He has lost them all! Even true companionship is denied him! I love him as a father, yet I can never be his peer, never be his equal, all those who called comrades are gone from him, he stands at the pinnacle of a great pyramid of power where no other being can ever reach again, he is left alone, bereft, neither living nor dead, having only power…power and a responsibility that he has adopted for himself as his noble obligation, to use his power for our world, to save us from our own destruction! Can any of you say you stand alone! Can any of you bear what he bears, to never embrace another as a true brother or sister, an equal, a friend? Even kings have peers among others who share their burden across borders, but he does not, and he bears this burden not for one lifetime, but forever as an immortal king over kings, the one king of one land of one world, who alone is capable of securing our future! How can I not call him god? How can you hesitate?!"

"Speak up! If you can bear the emptiness, he carries within him by his station!" Silence greeted her, "He bears a lonely duty, the very least we can do is to call him what he truly must be, to bear such a weight for all our sakes!" She said emphatically. "What does the form he takes matter, when we should first be looking at the duty he bears upon the shoulders of that form?!" She snapped back at the priest who seemed critical of the undead.

The sun crept across the sky as questions came and went to and from Neia Baraja, yet neither voice nor confidence faltered as the woman, the general, the first human worshiper of Ainz Ooal Gown, pressed her claims and her arguments onto an audience that was not easily convinced and more than a little hostile in a few cases. Finally the sun no longer shone on her, and it came time for the day to end, and she headed for the exit.

Though she was the first one out, she was in no rush to leave, instead she leaned against the wall next to the entrance with her arms folded over her chest, one foot flat against the wall behind her, and her trademark visor over her eyes. She was waiting for someone, and that someone was not long in coming. "Hello, Lakyus." Neia said smartly, but with a pleasant smile on her face.

Lakyus turned around and approached her, she came close, and embraced her as a comrade. "Neia, it's good to see you up close again. I hope you're well?"

"I am, thank you." Neia said as they stepped back from one another. "I honestly wasn't sure you were going to attend…"

Lakyus shook her head, "No, I had to be here, for Keeno."

Neia nodded in understanding, "I should have figured on that, still feeling guilty?"

Lakyus nodded, "She's forgiven me, but it'll be a long time before I forgive myself."

Neia gestured away from the wall, "I'm going to eat, join me?"

"Happily." Lakyus replied, and the two women walked down the street, they were an eye-catching pair. Lakyus wore a white garb meant for a priestess of the nobility, formal and beautiful…but also wore her legendary sword and her luxurious blonde hair fell freely down her back. Neia by contrast, wore the green armor of the grand king Busar, boots of black, and gloves of red, with a black cloak with a hood down, baring her youthful face save for that which was covered by a visor, her straw covered hair kept short and practical, a sword at her side and her legendary bow on her back. They were given a wide berth as they walked.

"Perhaps that is why it was so easy for her to forgive you?" Neia proposed.

"How do you mean?" Lakyus probed.

"Well, if you step on my toes, and offer an apology you don't mean, I may not take you at your word, I may get angry or resentful. But if you step on my toes, and apologize sincerely, showing by your body language that you did it by accident, well then because you obviously mean it, it is easy to let go of annoyance even if it hurt. Perhaps because she sees how sincerely bothered you are by your past behavior, she finds it easier to let go of any hard feelings she might have had over it. After all, when you knew, you accepted her, maybe it took some time to accept everything, but you did, so just let the guilt fade in its own time." Neia said as they browsed the various shops along the streets of the prosperous capital city.

"And your point is?" Lakyus asked, more curious than anything.

"Perhaps don't let your guilt bother you so much, think of it as the tool that let the rift between you heal. It served a purpose, and you're just slow at putting it down. I don't think she'll mind when you do, especially if you're helpful now. Which leads me to my question, if you don't mind?" Neia asked.

"Ask away." Lakyus replied.

"Do you actually accept that the Sorcerer King is the god I say he is…or is this just you settling a debt?" Neia asked with seriousness and curiosity in her voice.

"First thing first." Lakyus said, "Would you like to eat here?" She asked, gesturing to a place with the succulent smell of meat wafting through the open door.

"Actually, I've made reservations." Neia said.

"For two?" Lakyus asked.

"No, for four." Neia replied with a clever smile.

"Ahhh…four?" Lakyus asked.

"Yes, you, me, Skana, and CZ." Neia said, "You didn't think I'd leave my wife and best friend behind while I'm here, did you?"

"No, no I guess not." Lakyus said with an amused chuckle, "It'll be good to see them both again, I didn't really get much time after…the incident, it was such a whirlwind after Wenmark and meeting the Sorcerer King and…" Neia touched Lakyus's arm. "Relax. You're just going to have dinner with one of the maid demons of the most powerful god ever to exist in this world, a dragon riding pope, and her exceptionally deadly, scripture killing wife."

Lakyus laughed, "Even as an adamantite adventurer…that is equal parts not comforting and the strangest sentence I've ever heard, and I live with Gagaran."

Neia grinned, "It wasn't meant to comfort, I was just boasting." She cracked a smile and Lakyus laughed more deeply.

Lakyus shook her head, "I don't mean I'm nervous, even if I'd never met them, a friend of yours is a friend of mine, it's just, the last time I saw you all together, you were going…" She quieted.

Neia's face went somber, "To Illyana's funeral. Yeah. I'm…I'm going back after the Synod, when…Ainz…the Sorcerer King is declared to be the god he is, his edicts will sweep away any remnants of the system of ownership that abused so many elves, then I can go to her grave again and tell her I kept my promise." Neia said, her voice growing tight as she tried to force the words out, and Lakyus, the priestess of the god of water, the private apostate, the heretic, took the hands of the Pope of Black Justice into hers and said, "I'll go with you next time, I never knew her, but I think, wherever she is, she'd be glad to see so many there to support you in paying your respects."

"Thank you." Neia said softly, and then pointed to a nearby place, "This is it." It was a nice looking place, smooth wood lacquer and with a well dressed young man standing just inside the door at a waist high podium. Neia walked in and approached the worker, "Reservation for four, under Neia Baraja."

"And I'm the pope." He said flatly.

"No," Neia said with a grin that told Lakyus she was used to this, "I am the Pope, check the reservations please." She said politely. The man rolled his eyes, looked, and then his expression went awed.

"Ahhh…ohh…I'm, please forgive me Pope Neia! I…" Neia waved her hand dismissively.

"Think nothing of it, this sort of thing happens all the time." Neia said with a laugh and the embarrassed, now red faced employee, led her to a table.

When they were seated, Lakyus asked her, "Why is that?"

"Well, people think all legends are as tall as a giant…and I'm…a bit closer to a dwarf than a giant, so I'm never quite what they expect. I don't really mind, but that is why I always have my reservations booked with a description of what I look like up close, it makes things easier." She said with some patience in her voice as they checked the menu.

"Now, my question?" Neia asked.

"Oh…well…I honestly don't know." Lakyus answered, "I worshiped a god who never presented himself to me, not even once in a lifetime, now here is this being who shows more power than the most outlandish stories of the water god's life and I ask myself…what even is a god? It seems stupid that I never asked that before, and in the end, I realized this…it doesn't really matter if he's a god like the water god, greater, lesser, or if there were no gods and only supremely powerful beings. It's my job to side with whoever is making the world better, and I think he's doing that, and will continue to do that. So it is my job to back him, no matter what he really is. Does that answer your question?" Lakyus said as a server approached with wine, just as Skana and CZ appeared at the table.

"What question?" Skana asked curiously as she leaned over and kissed Neia on the cheek, before she and CZ seated themselves.

"Nothing of importance." Neia said with a smile, "So…who's hungry?"


	4. Worst Cheesecake Ever

_…In Nazarick…_

"Remarkable speech, wasn't it?" Ainz asked the observing guardians and other attendants.

"She is a gifted speaker." Demiurge admitted.

"But…Id'n she wrong, majesty?" Vanysa asked, "Ah mean…is a good speech an all, she shows yah as the best damn king and the best damn god there could ever be anywhere ever…but…ah don't like ta think ah yah sufferin like she say." Vanysa said, her distress at the prospect of Ainz suffering was clearly driving her to madness.

"Please say she wrong…ah ain't made like the rest of 'em," She gestured around the throne room, her wings wrapped around her as if it were a cloak, and her fury's eyes welled with an emotion other than sadistic urgency, "…but ah don't like ta think ah you bein sad. Ah hope everone here'll forgive this umble slave of yer majesty fer sayin…for em…we loves yah."

This drew some concerned looks from the guardians and maids, and all those other members of his court who had chosen to come at his invitation and watch the Synod unfold. Inside his own mind, Suzuki Satoru sighed. In a way, Neia had been more spot on than he had ever expected her to be, the human within the overlord still mourned the loss of his dear friends and still agonized over his own position. She gave him too much credit, to say it was intentional, but she had been right about the feeling. They were looking to him though, and he could see the bitten lips of Shalltear and Albedo and the deeply disturbed expressions on the faces of Aura, Mare, Cocytus, Sebas, Demiurge, and the maids, among others. He had to answer this.

"My children…my servants…your love and devotion to me is as a comforting blanket that makes every day worthwhile, I will not tell you she is entirely wrong, there can be only one at the top of the pyramid, but know that even in my most difficult hour, thinking of the lost comrades who were your creators, I draw comfort from their precious children, and purpose from my place and the fulfillment of my role as both ruler and as the god of those who serve as extensions of my will. Please feel no distress for me, there is no defect in yourselves, nor is there a virtue you lack that would replace what was lost." He said, and this seemed to ease their troubled expressions considerably.

"I wonder if I'll ever really grow comfortable making those impromptu speeches…" He thought to himself.

"I think it was a very fine start, the previous two days before that were excellent as well, I was especially pleased to see Lakyus presenting such excellent opportunities for Neia Baraja to present her case more fully." Sebas said as he stroked his beard.

"Was that on purpose do you think?" Vanysa asked curiously.

"I think so." Demiurge said, "She's got a sense of 'obligation' about her, and she abandoned her old beliefs privately, if not publicly, over Keeno."

"Are they likely to come to the correct answer?" Cocytus asked.

"I am certain they will, even the foolhardiest creature cannot deny the endless power of my beloved Lord Ainz." Albedo said with a haughty laugh.

"Of course." Shalltear said, stroking her own cheek as she smiled dreamily, "Anyone who does not think him a god, must be either ignorant or foolish."

So it went around the throne room as praises for Ainz and his power and status were circulated. Vanysa however, kept her eyes on his and remained silent until the mirror was shut down and Ainz dismissed them one by one to go back to their duties, leaving him alone in the throne room with Vanysa.

_…Arwinter…restaurant…"The Platinum Plate"…_

"Intoxication protocol?" CZ asked, looking over at Neia and Skana. The couple shared a look and a whimsical smile, the sort that couples with extended time together have when they're reading each other's thoughts.

"What's that?" Lakyus asked.

"Fun." Skana said with a pleasant smile, "And very cute."

"Cute?" Neia asked with pretend wounded expression, "What am I? Chopped demon?" She tittered a bit and as the server came and filled the cups of wine for CZ and Skana.

"Now cute." CZ said and put a sticker on Neia's cheek.

There was a collective eye rolling from the table, but expressions said it was of good nature. "First," Neia began as she picked up her cup, "I'd like to propose a toast to the Sorcerer King, who has given us peace…in every sense," she looked over to Lakyus, how politely bowed her head before raising her cup, "and who has brought us together, may ten thousand lifetimes be but a fraction of his reign." Neia turned to CZ, "Oh, and didn't you say you heard a toast from your…creator, once?" She asked.

CZ nodded and held her cup high. "Live long…and prosper." CZ said..

She was answered by a chorus at the table, "Live long and prosper." And they drank their cups to empty, and a server quickly returned and refilled them once again. The continual light spell that radiated above a decorative candle made it easy within the restaurant to order, and one by one they made their selections. CZ ordered only more wine, while Lakyus requested a dragon steak. Skana ordered a rich seafood stew and Neia seconded Lakyus's order. They laughed and joked for several hours, trading stories of their activities while apart, Lakyus took particular interest in CZ's service to the Sorcerer King, and the hours felt like mere minutes.

They were nearly ready to go when a server approached the table with a tray bearing several slices of succulent looking cheese cake, topped with various fruits, it was so rich and delicious looking that it was mesmerizing, they could smell the butter used for the crust, it was in a word, marvelous.

"Pardon me," Neia said, "but we didn't order this."

"It is a gift, a show of gratitude for his majesty's justice." The server said. The man was young, perhaps in his twenties, dark hair and a thin neat mustache, he was of slender build and immaculately dressed as all the other waiters, and Neia gave him an appreciative smile and gestured to the table.

"Then far be it from me to refuse." She said, "Please give our gratitude to our benefactor."

"I shall, ma'am." He said, and he removed each plate from a rectangular platter of exquisite workmanship, and laid a plate before each of them, and a small dessert fork for each plate, and then he bowed and left them to enjoy it.

"By god, this looks good." Skana said, and this was met with agreeing nods."

"It does," Neia said, "but if it isn't too much to ask…I'm not really in the mood for strawberry, Skana, could you and I switch?" She asked sweetly.

"Of course, love." Skana said, and slide her blueberry slice over to Neia, and took her strawberry one in its place.

A moment later they were cutting into their slices while CZ's intoxication protocol was clearly kicking in, if her silly little grin was any indication.

Neia took a bite, it was every bit as good as it looked.

Lakyus took a bite and was not disappointed.

Skana took a bite, "This is very good, but there is an undertone to it I can't quite place." She said.

After a few more minutes, the plates were clean.

Skana smiled broadly, "I wish I had both my eyes so I could have appreciated it twice as much, funny undertone, but damn it was good."

"Odd, I didn't notice anything." Neia said, "What was it…" She started to ask and stopped as Skana began to shake as if she were having a seizure.

"Skana?" Neia asked.

"Hey! What's wrong!" Lakyus asked in alarm as Skana seized up and fell off her chair, shaking as if she'd been struck by a low level lightning spell.

CZ immediately deactivated her intoxication protocol and stood up sharply, throwing her chair backwards, the other restaurant goers started shouting in alarm as CZ darted next to Skana and crouched down.

"Hold her!" CZ snapped to Lakyus and Neia, who were already moving to her side.

"Lakyus, head, Neia, body!" CZ snapped out with a monotone that had only a hint of the concern that lay beneath the surface.

Lakyus grabbed Skana's head and held it, fear was etched in Skana's eyes as she realized what was happening, words couldn't form, but the question was clear.

CZ tilted Skana's head back so as to thrust out her jaw, and then she locked her lips in a tight seal over Skana's as if in a passionate kiss.

Under any other conditions, Neia would have been shocked by CZ's actions, however in this moment, she could do nothing but trust her friend. Her trust as it was, had been well placed, and CZ pressed on Skana's belly, as she sucked the poison out of Skana and into her own mouth. An alarmed crowd had gathered to watch, food and conversation and wine all forgotten as the disastrous seeming scene unfolded before them. Finally, Skana stopped moving, and Neia shook her. "Skana! Skana! Get up Skana!" But she didn't stir, her breathing was gone, her body was still. "Wake up!" She shrieked.

Lakyus however, was already acting, the aura of magic stirring from her body as she uttered her spell, but Neia didn't see as she kept trying to shake her wife awake. CZ simply knelt there, placing Skana's breathless, lifeless head in her lap.

It was not until the spell released, that eyes began to flutter open and a deep breath began, she sucked in air as if she had sprung from underneath the waters of a deep lake and looked around.

Neia relaxed, her eyes were wet with tears, Skana was breathing, blinking, and she pushed herself up by her elbows. "What…the hell…was that?" She asked softly.

CZ spat onto the floor. "That…was poison." She said.

Neia fell forward and hugged her wife with tears in her eyes, "Oh thank god." She said softly, "I thought for a moment…" She looked over at CZ and Lakyus, "Thank you."

"Yes, thank you, you saved my life." Skana said sincerely, and Neia reluctantly let go as they got back up.

"Nobody moves!" Lakyus shouted. "I want every waiter in this restaurant, brought over here NOW!"

CZ drew her spell gun and dashed to the entrance without waiting for the instruction. "Nobody leaves." She said flatly.

Lakyus, recognizing what was happening, immediately strode purposefully to the back of the restaurant, pushing past several flustered cooks, then she drew her sword and pushed the tip into the floor parallel to her body in front of her. "Absolutely no one leaves." She said bluntly.

When Neia and Skana got to their feet, the warrior pope could not remove her eyes from her wife. Skana touched her head, "God that was unpleasant. Never been poisoned before…didn't like it."

"Well, somebody else is going to like it a whole lot less." Neia said as she pulled off her visor and one by one the waiters and waitresses were corralled.

"Everybody but the servers…sit." She said. She looked the servers over as the other diners seated themselves and silence swept over the room. The power of the evangelist was in full swing…but not with an angelic warmth that invited the acceptance of her message, but with a terrible wrath that might as well have been the power of her god to those who were present.

"He's not here." Neia said as she looked the nervous shaking servers over. "Where is he?" She asked sharply.

"Where is who?" One nervous, mousy looking woman asked curiously.

"The server who brought us dessert." Neia said and gave a brief description.

The servers looked at one another. "What dessert?" Another young man asked.

"The cheesecake, damn it!" Skana snapped as she moved to stand next to Neia.

"Ahhh…we don't serve cheesecake." One of the servers said.

"We did, a few weeks ago, but we took it off the menu and replaced it with a melon cream dish." Another said matter of factly.

Neia went to the table and snatched up a dessert menu and flipped it over, she scanned it carefully.

"Shit, they're telling the truth." She said without looking up. Diners were staring in silence as she spoke. "But…why would anyone want to poison my wife…?" Neia asked, "Trying to punish me for something?" Neia asked, stroking her forehead as her mind raced.

Skana touched her shoulder, "They weren't after me." She said, "They were after you."

Neia's mouth fell open, "That's right…I…switched with you. The Synod, someone didn't want me to speak. Now I can't speak, I have to find whoever did this…I have to find them and punish them…" A dark aura swirled around her, a terrible pressure built, and Skana found it hard to breath.

"Neia…stop…" She gasped out, several other diners were shaking and also having trouble breathing, but Neia didn't hear anything, not over the roar of her own raging thoughts.

"Neia! Stop!" Skana snapped again, louder this time and touched her cheek.

The warrior pope froze, the pressure vanished. "What the hell just happened…" She asked softly. "What…was…that?"

Skana shook her head, "My question too."

"I haven't felt anything like that since…you know…Remedios." Neia said softly.

Skana took her hand, "Listen, stop…you don't speak at the Synod, and we dishonor our god, you can't stop because of me, or whoever wanted to stop you will have succeeded. What are the rules of Nazarick?" She asked.

"Never know defeat, never allow the enemy a victory, never fail, and always obey his majesty." Neia said softly.

"We'll investigate, we'll find who did this, all you have to do, is lend your voice to the will of the supreme one. We'll have two victories out of this. Go back to the hotel for the night, we'll take the witness statements and gather all the information we can, I'll get Lakyus and CZ to help me, and if necessary, and if we need someone good at terror and torture, I'll ask for Vanysa, she can blend in, and sniff out guilt like a dog on a trail. We've got this…trust me." Skana said, leaning in, and pressing her lips to Neia's own with comforting gentleness.

"Yes…of…of course, I trust you all." Neia said as the kiss broke. "But before I go to bed, I'm going to report this to the emperor…and to the Sorcerer King, they should know what happened here." She said softly and stepped away.

A moment later she was leaving the restaurant and Skana borrowed sheets of paper and began to take notes, going from one person to the next and taking statements, every detail of the mystery waiter, the platter, and for good measure she got the name, description, and residence of every member in the restaurant team and every patron present. The hour was very late when she finally allowed them to begin to leave and she called for Lakyus and CZ.

"Ladies…ready to catch a killer?" Skana asked.

"Yes." CZ said as she holstered her spell gun.

"Absolutely." Lakyus said as she sheathed her sword. "I'm happy to help out Neia, there are no debts among friends and comrades." She said firmly.

_…Palace of Arwinter…_

When Emperor Jircniv heard that Neia was coming to see him, he wasn't sure if he should be happy or not, all the reports he'd had of the Synod had been favorable, yet she hadn't come to see him on those days, why now? It was not something he wanted to contemplate, yet now he was going to be confronted with whatever it was. His wife sat beside him on a throne matching his own, and he ordered all but one guard dismissed. If it was bad, he did not want there to be any reasonable chance of it getting out.

The large double doors opened, and the small, but strangely towering woman strode purposefully towards the throne, she did not kneel…given her position as the pope of his master's religion, they were closer to peers than anything else, even if the exact positions hadn't been hammered out, it was easier…and safer, to think of her as an equal in social status. She did, however, bow politely, and he inclined his head in return, as did the Empress. More than that however…they'd had correspondence since their meeting, and one could even call them casual friends, even comrades at a distance, who had served on the same side of the war, if in differing roles, so he was comfortable enough after that minor formality to stand and walk down from his throne and offer out his arm to her, which she clasped firmly.

"It's good to see you again, Pope Neia. I wish you had come sooner; I'd have prepared a reception for you when you arrived." He said.

"That is actually why I didn't, though I pray you were not offended by it, I am here on a duty for the Sorcerer King, therefore I must appear independent of all other influences." She said confidently.

"Of course, I understand, but then…what brings you to me now?" He asked.

"Someone tried to assassinate me tonight over dinner, my food was poisoned, my…my wife Skana, she ate it instead, by chance." Neia said softly.

The empress touched her chest and took a deeply shocked breath.

"No…" The emperor said softly. "I vow I had nothing to do with this." He said.

"I know you didn't. You wouldn't do that to me, you're loyal, you're grateful, and you're a good ruler. I never thought for a second that you'd do that." Neia said firmly, much to his relief.

"Is your wife alright?" He asked.

Neia nodded. "She is, CZ was able to extract the poison, and Lakyus was able to use her resurrection magic immediately. They're gathering statements to conduct their own investigation, I'm still speaking at the Synod tomorrow, but you need to know what is going on, and you should inform our master, I would also appreciate making resources available to them while they work." Neia said.

"Of course, of course." Emperor Jircniv said with breathless assurance, "Anything you need, the empire's resources are at your disposal." He said softly.

"Thank you, I came only to inform you of this, I'm…well, I'm truly exhausted, and I'm going to rest, but I wanted to inform you before I did." Neia said, her voice now betraying her ample weariness.

"Shall I send an escort with you?" Jircniv asked with some concern.

Neia gave a little smile, "They used poison because they didn't think anything else would work, I'll be fine getting home, thank you." She said.

"Alright then, please stay safe, and I wish you good fortune tomorrow." He said softly.

"Thank you." Neia said sincerely, and she turned about and walked out the way she'd come. When she was gone, Jircniv returned to the throne next to his wife and looked at her in horror.

"If the assassin had succeeded…" He said, not finishing the sentence. He had no need to finish it, her face was as pale as his own. He'd be doubling the guards on the streets of the capital for the duration of the Synod, and grimly he called for his prime minister and began to pen an immediate message for the Sorcerer King's eyes alone.

It was late when Skana came back to the hotel, and Neia was still not asleep, she lay in bed, but was restless staring up at the ceiling in the darkness, she heard the door close. "Skana?" She asked.

"Yes." Skana replied as the door locked behind her.

"Come to bed." Neia said softly.

"I am." She replied as she stripped off her equipment and her clothing.

"No, I mean…come to BED." Neia said with a very different inflection.

"Oh." Skana said, the darkness hid the arch smile, but it did not disguise the smile in her voice. "Shy and bold both at once this time are you?" She said and removed one more layer of clothing than she'd planned to before lifting the covers of the bed.

Neia didn't answer, not with words, she pulled her wife under with her as if to save her…or herself…from drowning, and pressed lips to lips as they came together, her hands roamed over the body of her wife, she couldn't see her in the darkness, she didn't need to, her hands saw for her as she reached for the places she knew Skana loved to be touched, she drew her body down over her length, pressing lips to skin and drawing little cries from her lover, as if desperate to hear her to know that she was still among the living. Nor was she alone in this, for when Neia loosed her warrior grip, Skana, as if embattled, turned the tables and gave of herself as well, the two entwined and wreathed in shadows that might have been illuminated by the burning flame that might have ignited between them.

When energy was finally spent and they could only lay together, held close, breast to breast and hand to hand, Neia whispered softly, "I almost lost you today…I wouldn't have survived that." She said bluntly.

"I almost lost you today." Skana said, "And I wouldn't have survived that, remember they were after you, not me, and I talked to CZ about it, that poison was at a dose that would have killed you much, much faster, I'm larger, have a higher constitution, that is why I had seconds enough for CZ to extract the poison, and for Lakyus to use her resurrection magic, otherwise I'd have just died again with the poison still inside me. If you'd eaten it instead…if you'd eaten it…" Skana said, and as each contemplated how close they'd come to losing the other, the shaking began that was very different from the pleasurable trembling they had brought out in one another not minutes and moments earlier, neither could finish speaking, and neither began again, but aided by their comforting embrace of one another, they finally fell into a sudden, blessed rest.

Neia got up the next morning and cleaned herself up, Skana slept only slightly later, but got up early enough to have tea prepared and sent to the room so that they could share a cup before they left. Before they did, they embraced and kissed once more. "You be careful out there." They said in unison, then laughed, kissed lightly once more, and departed together before going their separate ways.

Neia went to the Synod, the other priests were already walking in and seating themselves, but she would not be seated, she was at the center of their view, and so where they almost all ascended stairs and found their seats, Neia simply walked to the center and waited. When they had seated themselves amid the murmur of conversation, Neia called out. "Good morning, honored priests of old and new, I will spare you the introduction, since if you don't know who I am…you're in the wrong place." She said, drawing a laugh from some both on her side, and not…however some of the elder priests and priestesses of the old gods, ventured to give her sense of humor some dirty and disapproving looks.

"I will be blunt. Someone tried to assassinate me last night, tried to poison me over dinner with my wife and my friends, instead of poisoning me, they poisoned her!" The talk became loud and sudden as people responded to what she said. "Silence!" She called out, and her call stilled those who heard her. "My wife lives, but only just, and so I am in ill temper today, as all should understand." There were many understanding nods, many priests and priestesses were married, and even those who were not, had friends who had wives or husbands, and understood the pain of losing a loved one, even her enemies did not have that lost on them.

"So, someone wished to silence me! But I will not BE silenced! I will be heard, and my god heard through me! Know that you who listen, were meant not to hear, someone…someone so feared what you might hear, that they sought my life, even at the risk of innocent lives…does that not speak to the power of the divine?! Have you, men and women of faith, the courage to hear what one coward or small number of cowards feared? Will you let their fears rule you?"

There was a discontented rumbling from the priests, but no objections. "Then I will speak, I will give to you, divine writ as it truly is, and leave it to you to know within yourselves if it is or is not the wisdom of a god laid bare before you!" She paused and waited for an objection that never came.

"Then I begin." She said and took a deep breath.

**AN: This one took a long time to edit, the next chapter will be easy, because it is just more of the text. ORIGINALLY...I had planned for this entire story to JUST be the text, and the Synod was simply the context to show it, with this poisoning event being a side story I would do later. However, I've decided that just the text itself is rather dull, so I'll be changing the story title and description accordingly. Interspersed within the story will be chapters from the text, while there rest will be dealing with the political situation of the Synod.**

**Next chapter to be published...probably God Rising, want to do a double release today, but it depends on how long it takes to write. Leave your thoughts in the review, and don't forget to join my discord server, invite is on the author page.**


	5. The Book of Necessity

N 1:1 The highest necessity is truth, as true beliefs will yield favorable results with great reliability, while false beliefs will not. -2 Can you determine what is true by merely a throwing of the dice? -3 Shall we call true only that which we wish were so? -4 No. To claim to know the truth, one must demonstrate that it is so. -5 Who calls an unproven belief true shall be called a liar. -6 Who tells you not to ask, does not wish their lie exposed. -7 Shall you call a lie right because you draw comfort from it? -8 Then will you draw warmth from pretending to have a camp fire? -9 False comfort is as bad as false safety, it does not remove danger, only hides it. It does not offer true strength, only disguises personal weakness. -10 How then will you know true from false?

An Encounter With Deception

N 1:11 In the time of the last war, a great fool named Philip was bribed and given the means to rebel by the Slane Theocracy. -12 The man was widely regarded as an incompetent of the highest order, arrogant and vain, grasping and faithless, weak in body and in mind, yet he seemed to succeed without effort. -13 This proved to be a grand deception by the Sorcerer King, who lured him to a trap, destroyed him in one blow with his servants, and captured shortly thereafter, the whole of the loyalty, land, soldiers, faith, and wealth of Re-Estize through his vassal, good King Zanac. -14 Had the Slane Theocracy been wise, they would have questioned this success from an incompetent, they would have observed that no real effort was made to stop the fool, yet such was their eagerness to believe in their own success, that they gave in to false belief, and aided in their own destruction. -15 Therefore it must be said that observation and comparison of belief to knowledge, desire to evidence, must be rigorously applied at all times in order to avoid deception.

N 1:16 Anyone may find themselves led to err, the wise are they which, when finding themselves deceived, abandon the deception in order to avoid further ruin to themselves or that which they value. -17 The fool however, finding evidence that they are deceived, cannot accept that they were made the fool, and they redouble the folly by further embracing the deception. -18 The wise will learn from the mistakes of all, the intelligent will learn from their own mistakes, and the fool will never admit mistakes, let alone learn from them.

N 1:19 No truth will require lies to protect or promote it, therefore when finding one who claims the truth, but speaks lies to advance it, mistrust their claim to truth.

N 1:20 Question all things, it is wise as well as pragmatic. Though it may sting, it stings less than the harm brought on by falsehood.

N 1:21 Of necessity much can be said, but what must be known first is that it must be followed. -22 Who denies the need, suffers for the deed. -23 Make your necessities just, and you will prosper, make your necessities according to your vices, and you will become a bane.

N 1:24 In all things necessity rules, and may require great sacrifice, even of the innocent.

An Encounter with the Sorcerer King

N 1:25 A great general, now known to us as the Great Matriarch, Hard-Eyed General Enri Emmott-Bareare, went before the Sorcerer King in great distress, for he had saved her people many times and made of her a great woman by the investment of his labor in education and opportunity, as well as the guidance and mentorship of his subordinates and himself. -26 She was sorely troubled, for she knew his power, she knew that in the ensuing struggle, many would perish, that the Slane Theocracy and its ruthless allies would slay as many as they could as often as they had to in order to gain a victory. -27 She also knew that because of his power he could end the war with the merest wave of his hand, therefore she knelt before him with eyes wet with tears fearing the loss of so many in conventional war. -28 "Why, why my lord, when you have such divine power, must we mere mortals fight this war as if you were one of us, and not the god you are?" She had asked him. -29 To which he replied, "Because I am not fighting to win a war, but to build a nation, a united one, where vampire and human, quagoa and dwarf, frost giant and dragon, naga and elf, call one another, brother, sister, and neighbor. -30 In the shedding of common blood, standing together as one, they will unite in a way no force can compel them. -31 Necessity demands that they fight together to recognize one another's worth, for this is the nature of the living, to contest against one another like rams, or fight as one. -32 I am not willing that they should die, yet death is inevitable, and if it is to be, then I would have it be so that such a conflict is never fought again. -33 They will bleed, but they will bleed for one another, and from that mingling of blood, they will become one." -34 Such was the wisdom of the Sorcerer King, who recognized the needs of the people and the means to achieve it, that General Enri would go on to win accolades for her service, and sacrifice even her desire for children, to aid in the birth of a new world. -35 If even a god and his generals know necessity, how much more must a common powerless mortal? -36 Can you deny it where he cannot?

N 1:37 Never stand in the way of need, instead strive to meet needs, and the result will be greater peace, prosperity and happiness for the generations that will follow you.

N 1:38 In times of struggle, necessity demands a common response, if your neighbor has no food as he has no money, do you think him content to starve? -39 Always recognize the common necessity of your fellows and aid one another in meeting them.

N 1:39 In times of war, know that necessity is unkind, yet where it is not needful, work no harm. -40 All wars end, but what is needed will not, therefore if a home does not need to be destroyed, leave it be. -41 If a life need not be ended, spare it. -42 If a wounded life can be saved, save it. -43 If mercy can be granted, grant it. -44 If a battle must be fought, fight it to win it. War requires victory, yet not all victories are equal. -45 Is it a great victory to destroy a great army to the last man? -46 Or is it a greater victory to capture, whole and intact, all that was brought to bear against you? -47 Or is it an even greater victory to capture all, without it ever being brought to bear successfully, so that the whole of a nation is handed over? -48 Or is it not the greatest victory of all, to destroy your enemies, by making them your friends? -49 Therefore fight last, but when you must fight, fight to win in such a way that you need not fight the same enemy twice. -50 And while the Truth is preferable, in war, it may be necessary to deceive your enemies in order to save many more lives.

N 1:51 Is there a forest with a single tree? -52 Is there a river with but one drop of water for all fish to swim in? -53 Though a farm may begin with but a single seed, will the farmer thrive if that wheat stands alone? -54 No. Therefore, as all things in nature need one another, the highest necessity of the individual is that many individuals come together for the common good. -55 Do you think you stand alone, farmer, noble, merchant? -56 No, for the merchant needs the man who builds the roads, does the merchant not need food? -57 Can he eat his wealth? -58 Coin contains little taste and no nourishment; therefore, he needs the farmer. Does this need not create obligation to care for the poor farmer, without whom he could not eat? -59 Necessity demands a common obligation, and the more who make your greatness possible, the more you must do for those who lift you up. -60 If you do nothing for those below you, they are right to ensure that you fall very far and are replaced by those who will not forget their needs.

N 1:61 Necessities must be pursued on balance, where the needs of one do not take too much from another. -62 If you need the land to produce, then you must also know that the soil needs to be tended. -63 If you wish wood for your fire, you must know that the trees you take must be replaced and replenished with new plantings. -64 If you require many cattle for meat, you must know that your cattle must have space for themselves. -65 If a need is neglected too greatly, then the balance of nature will be disrupted and the world itself will turn against you. -66 As the Sorcerer King sacrifices of himself to meet the needs of his followers, so must you sometimes sacrifice of yourself to meet the needs of the world. Do this, and you are a true follower of God, and a truly loving father to the children of many generations hence, for from you they will inherit a world worth living in.

An Encounter With the Sorcerer King

N 1:67 There came a time when the Sorcerer King made to sojourn into the lands of the Draconic Kingdom to drive out a terrible invasion by the Beastman Kingdom. -68 As his work within the Draconic Kingdom ended, he made his way in to the heart of the invader's nation. -69 Now neither man nor woman had ventured into that land before, not in many years, and it was said to be a great paradise. -70 However what he found was hell. -71 He found ruin and destruction, chaos, sickness, desperation, want, many beastmen were starving to death, and the capital city of their once mighty civilization sustained itself at all only by preying on smaller communities, while those beastmen who were fit and able, conducted the devastating invasion of their neighbors. -72 Further study revealed that they had grown so numerous and the need for food had grown so great, that their attempt at raising the food they need, destroyed the soil and the livestock; harvesting from the waters was so excessive that soon little was left and the waters became poisonous. -73 The people of the Beastman Kingdom had destroyed themselves even more than they had their human neighbor to the west. -74 The wrath of the divine was great, and he destroyed the wicked city of the capital, striking it down beneath the earth. -75 Thereafter they who yet survived learned to balance the needs of their population against the ability of their nation to sustain itself. -76 Today they are growing again, the spiral of life goes up, but slowly in accordance with their ability to make for themselves a good land to live on.

N 1:77 Necessity makes for innovation, those who dare to create and to invent, to imagine and to dream, and act to bring those thoughts into reality, are a blessing to your neighbors. -78 Invention requires education; how can a problem be solved if it is not understood? How can things be understood without learning? -79 As the body requires food, shelter, water, clothing…so too does survival require the pursuit of knowledge and understanding.

N 1:80 As some things provide for the needs to continue to exist, others provide for the need to truly live. -81 Do all things in moderation, including moderation. -82 Indulge…but not too much. -83 Work…but not so much you forget to play. -84 Play…but not so much that you forget that you need to work. -85 Enjoy a passionate hour with a willing mate, or two, or three…or more…but do not violate sacred trusts or wound hearts to do so, nor lie to those who entrust the safety and warmth of their bodies to you. -86 Never turn away from the consequences of your actions. -87 All who live desire that their actions have favorable ends, all who are just desire that favorable ends come to all. -88 But know that you who command, may not always have that happen. -89 You may have to make choices that end lives which you wish to save, or that lead to some living whose lives deserve to end. -90 Whatever choice this is, whatever end this is, you who give the order, must bear witness to the results, and must live with them for the rest of your days. -91 If you cannot bear the burden of the consequences, then you cannot bear the burden of responsibility, and you cannot call yourself fit to command. -92 All actions which are carried out, are acts of service and worship to the Sorcerer King's justice and his will. -93 To do what needs to be done, even though it may cause you or another to suffer, is an act of sacrifice.

N 1:94 Therefore you must know what is truly necessary, and whether you act for righteous reasons, or whether you act for wrongful ones. -95 To understand these things is to be wise. -96 To fail to understand them is to be a fool. -97 To attempt to go against the necessities many dictates is to be utterly mad. -98 Therefore we must come back our beginning of this book. -99 That to know what is necessary, you must know that what you believe, is actually true. -100 For unless you know what is true, you will never truly know…what you need to do, for your god, for your lover, your children, your community, or even yourself. And knowing where you are wrong, you may avoid bringing ruin upon them all. -Therefore reflect, reason, study, and take action…and you will be His true servant.

Neia spoke with vigor and passion as she recited the hundred and one passages from memory while her book was held close to her breast as if for comfort. Her face betrayed none of the fear she felt for Skana, her voice revealed none of the anxiety she felt at her towering mission or the threats she now feared that were being laid against it; she had a job to do, it needed to be done, and so she would do her best. Yet despite all this, few believed she was truly unaffected by the poisoning of her wife, which made her conviction and her very presence all the more impressive.

"I know I have said much to you today, but there is more to go, so I must express my gratitude to those who have sat and listened with open hearts and open ears and open minds. Even if you do not yet find yourself agreeing that divine wisdom has come to us from the one true god, you have the wisdom to at least consider it. For that I thank you, and as this day comes to a close, I promise that tomorrow I will hear your questions and we will speak to the matter of the meaning of divinity." She said as she looked around at the many levels above her. Lakyus's seat was empty, this did not bode ill as she saw things, rather it meant she was laboring beside her friends to find the cause of the danger that Neia was put through.

As the leaders of the faiths stood up and began to file out, Neia thought about Skana. Dying had clearly taken its toll on her, she had faked it well enough—she was strong, but it would require weeks or months to bring her former strength back. She had tried to hide it, (Neia smirked a little) it was a sweet gesture. And so, she made no issue over it. However, their desperate love making the night before had revealed that it was only her urgent relief at being alive, and that her wife was safe, that had given Skana the strength she needed to reciprocate the pleasure that Neia had sought to give her. The grip they'd held one another in as darkness closed in around them both revealed very clearly that Skana had not the strength she did the day before, and her weakness terrified Neia…that moment of finality in her stillness…it still made her shudder.

Her heart raced, and when the last priestess had filed out, Neia followed, mounted her undead horse, and rode back to the hotel. All she really wanted right then was to feel her wife's embrace again and revel in the certain knowledge that Skana was still alive, alive and with her, the way she wanted them to be, always.

**AN: I know, short chapter, they can't all be long, and this is where it needs to be to set up for the next one soooo...hey, you got a double release today, enjoy it. :) A guy got his sister vampired (she donated blood to a blood bank) to get two chapters in a day after all. :) **


	6. The Flavor of Poison

The next morning Skana got up and lightly kissed her sleeping wife. Despite the covers being thrown off, Neia still slept soundly. She looked so very different in her slumber than she did when she was awake. Her hair was longer than it had been during the war, and though it did not cascade down her back the way Lakyus's did, it was now significantly past her shoulders. Perhaps more noteworthy was how much better cared for it was. This extra care left it soft as the blanket that had covered them both shortly before. Whenever Skana looked over Neia's sleeping form, she was always struck by how much smaller her fierce loved one seemed. In public, speaking before kings and generals, or even kneeling before their god, she appeared a towering figure of strength. Yet in those emotional moments shared only between the most intimate of lovers, the real fragility of the warrior pope was laid as bare as her body.

It was the deepest and most moving form of trust. To lie with someone and experience bliss for a night was one thing, but when alone, Neia revealed all the jagged edges and broken parts of who she was that she had glued back together after horror, war, and sorrow had beaten against her so many times. Revealing them had been like handing Skana a mace, she always had the power to hurt her wife in the deepest ways, and she was determined that she never would.

After they shared tea and warm well wishes, Skana remained in their hotel room slightly longer than her wife, spending a few more minutes gathering additional materials. When she did leave, she found both Lakyus and CZ already waiting for her in the lobby.

"Good morning Skana." Lakyus said warmly, "How are you feeling?"

"How someone who cheated death normally feels. I'm dead on my feet and probably only moving this much because I was only dead for a moment, but I still feel like hammered shit and I'm wondering how long I'm going to have to train to get my lost power back." Skana said flatly.

"Don't eat poison." CZ offered helpfully, eliciting a dirty look and a laugh from Skana.

"Well ladies, we've got a lot of work to do. So, let's get to it." Skana said, taking on a more serious expression.

"I'll be frank, I don't have much experience with this, just what I observed from when Neia helped out in Kedyn…" Lakyus sounded nervous.

"It's OK, when I was in Nazarick I read some of the same books Neia did, I'm not quite as good at this as she is but…" She began.

"For her?" CZ asked curiously. Skana blushed furiously.

"Someone is already good at this." Lakyus chuckled as CZ's pointed question exposed Skana's much… earlier infatuation with the warrior pope.

"OK that's enough of that, let's get to work." Skana said, stiffly walking to an isolated room she'd reserved the previous evening.

They went to the hotel conference room and took seats at the table, "First, witness statements. What do we have?"

Skana asked as she took out her documents.

"The first thing to note is that nobody who I spoke with recognized the waiter who brought us that dish." Skana said as CZ stood and approached a large board on the wall and began to put up papers and noted that detail. "What about any of you?" She asked.

"None." CZ said, and noted her own results.

"And I spoke with the kitchen staff, nobody back there prepared this dish, so it definitely did not come from the back and nobody back there saw him, however I asked everyone who worked there if they recognized a description, and one of them did, one of the cooks remembers a man who worked there several years earlier who he said sounded like who we saw. I had someone do a sketch of him on the spot, and the resemblance was, in the words of the chef, 'uncanny'." Lakyus added.

"That would explain why he used a dessert that the restaurant no longer had, they didn't know it wasn't served anymore. If we'd looked at the menu more closely, we might have caught on." Skana said with a disappointed shake of her head.

"Didn't do it, don't take blame." CZ said, cutting off the train of thought before it could begin.

"You're right of course." Skana said and sighed.

"Name?" CZ asked.

"He didn't know, the restaurant owner said he thought it started with an 'Lo', but it was too long ago." Lakyus said.

"What else?" CZ asked.

"His manners were exceptional. He carried himself with a great deal of poise and grace." Skana said.

"Experience." CZ said abruptly.

"Yes." Lakyus said. "He may have worked here years ago, but I think it is safe to say he's continued to serve in the capacity of a high-class servant ever since."

"That narrows down the number of locations we need to scour, right?" Skana asked.

"Yes." CZ said as she wrote it on the board. Lakyus looked at the wall, CZ had patiently and neatly written out each piece of information, pinned up the sketch of the mysterious server, and noted in list form all of what they now knew and what they had concluded about him: The starting sound of his name, his having worked there previously, and his most likely current employment.

"You know, the cheesecake… poison aside, really was delicious." Skana said.

"Are you hungry?" Lakyus asked wryly.

Skana chuckled, "Well, kind of. I did skip breakfast, but what I mean is, the dish's presentation was top notch work. Our mystery waiter may have delivered it, but I don't believe for a second that he also prepared it. So… where did it come from?" She asked, opening her arms wide as if inviting suggestions.

"Another fine dining establishment." CZ and Lakyus said in unison, and CZ quickly put that information on the board.

"So… A fine dining establishment that makes cheesecakes and has a server with a name beginning with the sound of 'Lo' who looks like that." Skana said, pointing to the picture on the board.

"Anything else?" CZ asked.

"Well, what about the tray?" Lakyus asked.

"What about it?" Skana inquired.

"Different." CZ said.

"Right, the cheesecake you were served didn't come from that restaurant, and I really doubt that he walked into the restaurant with a bunch of them in hand and then just searched for a tray to swipe. The one he used was nice enough that it 'could' have been authentic and part of that establishment but now that I think about it, it didn't look like the ones the rest of our meals came on." Lakyus said.

"So, he either had his own or he brought it from the same restaurant that the tainted cheesecake came from." Skana concluded.

"I'll sketch it." CZ said, pulling a sheet of paper from a stack and scribbling out a near perfect representation and stuck it to the cork board.

"The question is, how did they know we were going to eat there? I don't believe for a second they found us by chance and wrangled all this together at the last minute." Skana said with an angry look on her face.

"Who took reservations?" CZ said as she wrote the question on the board.

"And also, who had access to them? Skana added. "The person who took them and the person who leaked them might not be the same, so we need to find that out."

"Skana… I know this is an unpleasant question, but… what can you tell us about the poison you ingested?" Lakyus asked delicately.

Skana frowned. "What do you mean?

"Taste or smell?" CZ clarified.

Skana mulled it over. "It had a kind of earthy flavor underneath the normal taste of cheesecake, a little sweet, but nutty. If it weren't fucking deadly, I'd actually have said it was delicious." She said thoughtfully.

CZ wrote the information on the board.

"Well, that narrows down the type of poison used rather considerably." The battle maid said.

"It does? How so?" Skana asked.

Lakyus let out a disgusted sigh, "I'm a warrior priestess through and through, but I was raised a noblewoman. We learn all about poisons because our peers sometimes try to remove each other in less than honest ways, and the traits of the poison you describe reminds me of a toxin called 'Hemlock.' Your seizures and other symptoms also point to the same thing."

"Common poison?" CZ asked curiously.

"No, not at all, very deadly, but the plant is very rare, meaning it must have come from elsewhere. If someone in the city grew it themselves, they'd never use it on any of their enemies since even finding the plant would be considered intent to murder. It has no other known uses except as a poison. Therefore, it must have come from very far away, and I know of only a few places it can be grown or prepared for use in relative secrecy. Lakyus said.

"Any idea where it could have come from?" Skana asked.

Layus frowned. "There are two possibilities, Around some of the old estates in The Kingdom, or… the wilds surrounding Kami Miyako in the former Slane Theocracy."

"The kingdom's in no state to be shipping poison out, so we can probably eliminate that possibility immediately. With the new nobility corruption is relatively low, so there is just no call for a poison production market for any kind of an underworld." Skana pointed out.

"Slane Theocracy." CZ said softly.

"We can worry about that later, first thing we need to find that waiter. CZ, can you stay and watch over the material here while Lakyus and I go visit the emperor?" Skana asked.

"Yes." CZ said, in her usual monotone.

Skana and Lakyus left as quickly as they could, mounting their horses outside. Undead horses, while fairly common inside the Sorcerous Empire, were not nearly as widespread in places like Arwinter as yet, and those riding them were given a wide berth for their (correctly) assumed importance (or just out of lingering fear). This made it very easy for the pair to quickly journey to the emperor's palace. In no time at all they found themselves mountain the stairs to the massive entrance that served as a testament to the power of the emperor and the success of his state.

"Identify yourselves please." The guards said in unison born of constant practice.

"Skana Baraja." Skana said.

"Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra." Lakyus added. "We're here to see the emperor, he is expecting us."

The two guards shared a surprised glance, then quickly admitted the two women. They walked to the royal court with great speed and urgency in their every step, until the Royal Marshall sought their identities by the court's great double doors.

"Commander Skana Baraja & Lady Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra." Lakyus informed him. The Marshall opened one of the doors, stepped through, and announced their presence in the booming voice that must surely have earned him his position.

The banter of the court and the petitioners lined up before the emperor froze, its occupants whirling around to look at the pair. Neither Skana nor Lakyus paid any attention to the stares as they walked to the base of the throne.

"A word?" Skana requested plainly.

Emperor Jircniv nodded and stood, "I will return shortly." He announced. "Dear," he said to the Empress, "please see to the court while I'm away." He said politely and then descended the steps and made his way to his private office. The pair quickly followed.

Soon they were alone and seated, the door firmly shut behind them. "What can you tell me, and what do you need?" The emperor asked, jumping straight to the point with a grave expression on his face.

When Lakyus had informed him of what they had worked out and how they did it, his eyes went wide with surprise. "You worked all that out… from almost nothing? I am impressed, your reputations do not do you justice." He said respectfully. "I can help you with your search somewhat. In all of Arwintar there are only ten restaurants of the caliber you speak of, each with a single chef that prepares the most exquisite cheesecakes, one of whom is the current Imperial pâtissier. He comes to the palace once a week, and if you describe your dish to him, he can narrow it down further." Jircniv scribbled out a brief note and a list of restaurants and slid it across the desk.

"By the way Commander Skana, so you are aware, I have written and dispatched a letter to the Sorcerer King informing him of the events that have transpired so far. He has offered to send an investigator of his own to assist you if you require it. He's also offered," Jircniv's voice became somewhat envious, "a month-long holiday in his domain for yourself and your companions, regardless of the outcome, as a show of appreciation for your hard work, loyalty, and courage."

Skana gave him a broad smile, "That makes being poisoned almost worth it." She laughed.

"Almost?" Lakyus said dubiously, "For that I might poison you myself!" Skana gave her a mock glare, and the emperor started chuckling too.

"Thank you for your quick response your majesty." Skana said, regaining her serious tone. She took and looked over the note. "If we can have one more small piece of assistance?" She asked.

"Name it." He replied.

"Regardless of the information given to us by your dessert chef, we'll need to investigate the places he can't rule out, and to put it mildly, we stand out. there is no reason to think the guilty parties expect us to be on to them at this stage, and I'd rather not alert them to our actions. So may we borrow some of your guards?" She asked.

"To apprehend people?" He asked.

"No, we want to send them undercover disguised as wealthy merchants in a sting operation who and what we're looking for Lakyus replied.

Emperor Jircniv raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Explain, if you would?" He asked of them.

"We're looking for several things: the waiter responsible who brought us the tainted food, the restaurant where it was prepared, and the chef who baked it. Either identifying the chef or identifying the tray will give us the restaurant, and if we have the restaurant then we'll find the server, find the server and we'll find the point of contact." Skana began, then trailed off.

"There is also one other small matter…" Skana started to say, then hesitated, uncomfortable with the thought that rose in her head.

"Go on." Jircniv said, leaning forward.

"Our presence was known in advance… we suspect the ones who took the reservation sold that knowledge..." She began and then Jircniv raised his hand from the table to stop her mid-sentence.

"I can help you with that." He answered, "Restaurants of high caliber tend to be very discreet in principle, however there is something of a black market on information for guests of particular significance. People wish to be seen with others of significance, so it is fairly common for certain brokers to trade that information for coin. In this way various figures try to get close to the nobility or other movers and shakers of the empire." He said.

"I see. We'll need to find out who that information was sold to as well then." Lakyus said thoughtfully.

Jircniv took a sheet of paper, scrawled some instructions on it, he then affixed his personal seal to the bottom and slid it over to Lakyus. "These orders entitle you to as many guards as you need, and credit from the royal treasury for appropriate clothing to put the men into their proper roles."

Lakyus took the document and then she and Skana stood up, followed quickly by the emperor. "Thank you sire." Skana said, "We appreciate your cooperation."

"Always happy to assist a fellow servant of the Sorcerer King. Come to me again if you require more support." He replied.

The two women bowed politely and departed, quickly making their way to the royal kitchens, only to find a slightly overweight but youngish man with an almost fevered energy about him in the way in which he moved about the kitchen instructing his juniors on what exactly to do and how. He reminded Skana of the way Neia moved around units before battle, ensuring everything was as perfect as possible before marching to war. It was a most impressive sight and Skana hated to interrupt the observation of excellence at work, but she nonetheless made a loud noise as if clearing her throat, and… he didn't notice. Only after the third throat clearing did he look away from what he was doing and take note of the odd pair waiting for his attention.

He paused what he was doing and approached, "Hello ladies, what can I do for you? If there is some special treat you require, the servants who attend this part of the palace are happy to take your orders, if they were in some way unsatisfactory, say the word and I will have them replaced immediately!" He said enthusiastically.

"Nothing like that, I need your help on a matter of some significance. Come with me." Skana said in a voice that made it clear she was ordering, not requesting. This set the portly fellow on edge, but he obeyed and left the kitchen with them. When the kitchen doors swung closed behind them, Lakyus told him of the events that had taken place. His face first paled and then went red with rage.

"To do such a thing is against the chef's code!" He said emphatically, "It is blasphemy to the delicious to ruin something so perfect! Ladies, I know every chef in this city who can prepare a dessert on par with myself, and I can swear to you that none of them would ever do such a thing!" His voice was hoarse with suppressed anger as he spoke, but both Skana and Lakyus remained firm.

"Whether that is so or not, it happened, and we need to know where the cake could have come from." Skana insisted.

"Describe it in detail." He replied, holding out ten fingers.

"A buttercream base with a buttery cookie-like crumble crust. The top was decorated several different types of fruits. Strawberries and halved blueberries laid round side up." Skana said, and the chef nodded emphatically before closing five of those fingers into a fist.

"The syrup was drizzled into a spiral design going from the center of each slice outward to the edge of the plate." Lakyus added.

He nodded again and closed two more fingers. There was a pause.

"Anything else?" He asked.

"Nothing in particular I can remember about the dessert." Skana said. The baker looked to Lakyus, who shook her head as well.

"Me neither." She added.

"I see, well with the information you've given me I can narrow it down to three places for you." He said, taking a quill from his pocket and holding his hand out for a sheet of paper. Skana handed him one and he wrote down three restaurants.

"The Golden Pear," he said, "is run chiefly by Chef Icabod, skinny fellow, passionate, talented, and makes the fourth best cheesecake in the city. The next is a place called 'Emperor's Delight', it is run by Chef Baragon, interesting man, actually the son of a noble who abjured his title in favor of his love of cooking, incredibly talented, makes the third best cheesecake in the city. The third is called 'Xanadu', its run by a Chef named Nickan, easily the second most talented chef in the city across the board, each of them does their cheesecake with fruit sliced that way and syrup drizzled that way., the others either no longer serve it and haven't for a while, or they use different personalized designs in the way their fruity syrups are drizzled or use different fruits entirely."

"Thank you." Skana said with a bowing of her head slightly, "You've been very helpful., Bbut just out of curiosity, one more question?" She asked.

"Yes?" He inquired.

She cocked her head to one side and gave him a crooked little smile. "Who is the first best in the city, after how you've ranked these men and at least one of them served me both the best and the worst cheesecake I've ever had, I'd really like to know."

He looked at her with surprise and returned her smile with absolute confidence on his face. "Why I should think it obvious my lady: I'm the best. That's why I work here once a week, and they don't. Come back when you're finished, and I'll prove it." He said, "Now if you'll excuse me?" He bowed politely and returned; they could hear him shouting about following directions properly, even over the loud noise of the swinging doors.

"I'd say that gives us a lot of what we need." Lakyus said, "So let's go borrow some soldiers and find our prey."

"Yes. Let's. He wanted to find out what my wife thought of the way poison tasted, I'd very much like to get his opinion on the taste of steel." Skana replied with a savage smile and touched the pommel of her blade as the two walked back the way they came.

**AN: I'm enjoying writing these kinds of 'whodunit' stories more than I thought I would. And hey, you get a double release day, so...win win. :) OF course if you enjoyed the chapter leave a review, and if you aren't broke and you'd like to go the extra mile to support my creative projects, you can donate to my patr3on dot com at slash godrising. Thanks for reading! :)**


	7. Tracking

Skana, CZ and Lakyus returned and set up the board in their private 'investigative center' quickly enough. As soon as they were done, Skana said, "I'll have the hotel concierge call for a discrete guard, we'll have quite a bit to do today."

"Fine, but remember I have to be at the Synod today too. If I'm late for one day and don't show up till around lunch, well who hasn't had that happen just once?" Lakyus said.

"Good to have friends." CZ said simply.

"Agreed." Skana said, giving CZ and Lakyus a small grin, "I think it's a good idea for there to be some support there that Neia knows. We can manage without you for a while, we'll reconvene here in the evening around dinner after the Synod ends for the day. I'm sure Neia would like to know what we found."

"Alright, that'll work." Lakyus said, and then Skana went out over to the front desk. A few moments later she returned.

"OK, he's going to have someone here within the hour." Skana said and flopped herself down in a chair, her arms and legs splayed out.

"Didn't sleep well?" Lakyus asked.

"No, but it's not that, I just feel so… weak, like a damn kitten. I'm not sure that resurrection spell really worked all the way, because I am dead on my feet." Skana said.

CZ approached and put a sticker on her cheek. "Cute. Feel that?" She asked.

Skana nodded, well used to CZ's antics by now. "Yes…"

"Not dead then." She said.

Lakyus covered her mouth to keep back her laugh. "Yes, the spell worked just like it was supposed to, you're feeling weak as a kitten because you've lost almost all your strength. Do you know your estimated rank by adventurer standards?" She asked.

Skana frowned, "Well, when we were fighting Remedios I didn't die, but the only occasion I had to face off on guild standards was in Yanana. In those fights I went as high as platinum before we started drinking games instead, I don't really know what my upper limit was at the time. I can say that I'm better with a sword than Neia, but she's better than I am with a bow. Why do you ask?"

Lakyus touched her cheek and looked up thoughtfully, "At a guess you were somewhere around Platinum or Orichalcum, which means right now you're maybe the equivalent of a gold rank, and you'll have to train a lot once you're able to move around more, in order to regain your lost strength. That you were able to stand and walk says you had to have had some considerable strength before though, good for your survival, if you'd been too weak, you'd be ashes."

Skana swallowed, "Unpleasant thought."

"Stay here." CZ said.

"What, why?" Skana asked.

"Weak. Can't fight." She said flatly.

"She's got a point." Lakyus said, "You'll be fine here, you can just wait for the guards, we'll go back to the restaurant and talk to the owner and the reservation manager. Once the guards arrive, you can fill them in on the mission, give them the letter of credit and inspect them when they come back. This is more efficient and you can take over when it is time for me to go to the Synod."

Skana sighed heavily, "I guess I can't really argue with that." She said, "Alright, go, I'll wait here, good luck to you."

"Thanks." Lakyus and CZ replied over their shoulders as they walked out of the back room.

When they left, Skana turned her chair to face the board and simply looked at it, as if by staring at it, she could compel the culprit to reveal himself, she folded her hands under her chin and watched it, digging her nails into her palms enough that they bled. Someone had killed her, worse, someone had tried to kill her wife in the most cowardly underhanded way possible. It had her raging inside, hating the weakness that resurrection had brought her, and longing to train again.

She spent so long looking for an answer that wasn't there that she lost track of the passage of time, and before she knew it someone was knocking on the door. "Come in." She said loudly, and in walked an officer of the Baharuth Army.

"Ma'am, I'm Captain Strega, I've been requisitioned to your service, along with my squad, please give me your orders!" He said crisply and snapped his feet together and rendered a smart salute and stared at her with awe.

"I take it you recognize me." She said, leaning forward in her chair.

"Ma'am! Yes I do ma'am!" He said. She looked him over, he was young, in his early twenties, impressive rank for a man that age, he had a half beard and honest looking blue eyes to complement his slender but firm looking frame, it was hard to keep her professional pride at bay, but she did her best.

"Well, I hope it was good things." She said with a little smile forming on her face before she reached into her front pocket and pulled out a letter from the emperor and handed it to him.

"Ma'am, the best things, ma'am." He said sharply, and then he reached out and took the letter.

"That letter authorizes you to use the emperor's own treasury for your expenditures, with no upper limit. You and your soldiers will discreetly visit a tailor and have yourself outfitted like the very finest merchants. Then you will split up into teams and visit various restaurants from this list." She said, standing up and taking a list off the board. "While there, you will look for two things. First, a man who looks like this." She took the sketch CZ had drawn and handed it to him. "Second is a tray that looks like this, exactly like this." She said and took the sketch of the tray down and handed it over as well. "Memorize both his face and every line of silver or white gold that is etched into those patterns on that tray, I want to know where that man is, and where that tray is used, and I am certain both will be found at the same location, in one of those few restaurants."

"Ma'am, what is our budget for food and drinks ma'am, I assume we are to blend in?" He asked formally as he looked over the images he held, drinking them in and burning them into his memory.

"Whatever the empire's annual budget is." She said bluntly. "There is no limit, you can get the whole place drunk if you want, I don't care, as long as one of your groups finds both of the things we're looking for. You don't need to apprehend him, in fact I'd prefer you didn't, just identify where he works, and where he lives. Now, go get your people dressed to the nines and come back here for a brief inspection." She said bluntly, "Oh, and you're not to keep those pictures, get your men ready, memorize those things, then return here and I'll take those back, can't take the risk it might disappear along the way, or worse, expose you if it is seen." She said.

He nodded, rendered a salute, said "Yes ma'am!" and turned around and walked out.

When Lakyus and CZ reached the restaurant, they caught a lucky break. They were immediately recognized by the man that had seated them all the night Skana had been poisoned, and his very first act on seeing them was to abandon his post and rush to the two women. He bowed very deeply and said with a sincerity as deep as his bow, "Ladies, so glad you're back, I have been hoping to see you again so that I could beg your forgiveness for what happened to your companion, please know that the owner has expressed his complete willingness to cooperate with you in any way to find out who could have done this to you!" He stared hard at their feet, until he heard Lakyus speak.

"That is actually why we're here, we want to talk to the owner, and the person responsible for taking reservations, and whoever else has access to them." She said.

"At once my lady!" he said and snapped his back up to a vertical position and immediately rushed within, followed closely by CZ and Lakyus.

The restaurant was far from as busy as it had been 'that night'. Half the tables sat empty, but the attendant gave no sign that he was perturbed by the deficit of customers and he weaved through tables with the practiced grace of a noble's son, which, as she thought about it, he may have been. The kingdom was not the only place where noble houses had 'spares'. He lead them to the back to a slender door that blended in almost flawlessly with the wood work, at first Lakyus was cautious, a secret entrance was not a normal thing, but a moment later she laughed in her own head. The owner was so conscientious about the decor that he didn't want a door to break the flow of the design, therefore he designed it so that it would blend in with the wall.

She rolled her eyes, but followed up a set of ornate steps that lead down a short hall to another smooth door that opened up into an office space. There, a slender man with a thick bushy mustache in chef's clothing, sat behind a desk. As soon as he saw them enter, he stood and reached over the desk and extended his hand. "My dear lady Lakyus, and… CZ, yes? My name is Chef Thale, I am so very sorry about the incident that took place at my restaurant, please believe me when I say I never would have permitted something to happen to any of my customers, this black mark on my name, if it comforts you, will never wash away." He shook his head gravely. "Who will eat at a restaurant where poisoning is possible, if it were the food, then the food is bad, if it were planned and intended, nobody will dine somewhere so haphazard with the privacy and safety of their customers. I may not recover from this. At least your friend did." He said.

"Which loss is worse?" CZ asked, her voice had her usual neutrality, but Lakyus had gotten to know CZ a bit, and she saw red.

"Your companion would have been the greater loss, I don't mean to trivialize her at all!" He said, probably, Lakyus reflected, saving his life. "Please understand though, I have poured my life into this, all my life I have worked and labored to build a name and a reputation for myself, I have devoted myself to the culinary arts and have proudly served the people of the capital for many, many years. To lose all of that over dinner…" He balled his fists and pressed them into the desk he leaned over, "I may be ruined, and it is hard to cope with that."

"I see." CZ said.

"Then we are of one purpose, first, understand that anything you tell us is considered a government secret, losing your restaurant is bad, losing your head is much worse." Lakyus said with a calm and patient voice.

"Understood." He said softly.

"First we need to speak with everyone who has access to the reservation list, this was a deliberate and targeted attempt at assassinating the Pope of Black Justice, the Sorcerer King is incensed beyond measure, and it literally killed her wife, she made those reservations herself. Someone leaked those out to her killer." Lakyus said.

The owner thought it over. "Four people have access." He looked over their shoulders. "Orli, go bring Rascos, Barqs, and Mir." The attendant that had greeted and brought them into the restaurant bowed his head and quickly withdrew. A few minutes later there were four men standing by.

It is usually a bad sign when one finds oneself arrayed in front of their unhappy looking employer, but if anyone had ever wondered, a heavily armed girl with an eyepatch walking behind them and audibly locking the door before planting herself in front of it, did not improve the mood of the room.

Lakyus walked in front of them.

"My name is Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra, an adamantite adventurer, and I will be abundantly clear about your situation. One of you sold information to 'someone' who used that information to make an assassination attempt on Pope Neia Baraja, the woman who personally serves the Sorcerer King, the liege to your emperor. The assassination attempt poisoned and killed the pope's wife. Now, if that doesn't sound like enough of a problem, the Sorcerer King has offered to send one of his personal investigators, which from what I'm given to understand, includes that investigator's personal interrogator, to assist in the matter. The offer has not been accepted 'yet'."

There were very loud swallows and an abundant amount of sweating.

"You have two choices." She said as she stopped in front of the four right at the center. She held out one hand to her left at waist height. "You may confess." She lowered her other hand parallel to the left. "Or you may 'not' confess." All the while she'd kept her voice reasonable, but her look betrayed the fact that she was very angry.

"Neia and Skana are both friends of mine, so this is not a matter I take lightly. If you do not confess, you will keep your secret a little longer. But then I'll be turning you over to her." She gestured to the petite looking CZ Delta. "She's a demon maid of the Sorcerer King, he freed her from Jaldabaoth. If you keep your secrets from her, you will be turned over to Neia, who is very angry about the death of her wife, and she will likely turn you over to the interrogator. I don't know much about her, but 'guilt' to her species is like a sense of smell or sight. If you confess now, I'm inclined to be lenient, maybe let you go even, and keep your name 'out' of my report as an unimportant nobody who was not involved in the plot and was duped into…" She was interrupted before she could finish her sentence.

"It was me!" Mir shouted. "I did it! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I really didn't know anyone would get hurt! I just, wanted some extra pocket money and thought someone just wanted to sit close to her, it happens all the time, I swear nobody has ever gotten hurt, and nobody told me anything about the murder!" He said as he fell to his knees. Lakyus went and stood in front of him, she cupped his face in her hands.

"I believe you, if you were really guilty, you wouldn't still be working here, you'd have run for the hills." Lakyus said reassuringly. "So what I now want to know, is everything you can tell me about the person who you sold that information to."

"The rest of you, get out, and on pain of the headsman's ax or worse… never say a word." Lakyus said and looked to CZ. "CZ, let them out."

CZ unlocked the door, let them go out, unleashing enough of her killing intent to warn them that speaking on the events of this room would end very badly for them, then she closed and locked the door again.

"I sold it to an information broker, a woman named Ryli, she operates out of an inn, the Dancing Mare!" He said, spilling everything he knew in a panicked voice.

"And?" CZ asked from behind him, taking her palm and gently placing it over the top of his head, she 'squeezed' in what might have been gentle for her, but he let loose an agony filled yelp, like a dog that had just been kicked.

"Nothing! No one! I swear it!" he said, and as she released her gentle touch, his hands went up to his head and he began to whimper.

"You're going to give your ill gotten gains to charity, then you're going to quit this job and leave this city." Lakyus said.

"He can't quit. He's fired." Chef Thale said furiously.

"Either way, you're gone, and you'll never return here." She said with a chill voice. "You have five days to vacate."

He gave many small nods that were punctuated by his pained whimpers.

"Get out." CZ said, and opened the door again, he scurried out as fast as his legs could carry him.

"That may be settled," Chef Thale said, "but I am still ruined." He said as he sat heavily back down into his chair.

"Perhaps when we find the culprits, we'll celebrate here. That might restore some confidence to your establishment." Lakyus said.

"Perhaps." He said with a smidgen of hope. "Thank you for your kindness. I will cook my heart out for you, should such a day come, it is the least, and most, that I can offer you." Chef Thale said softly.

Lakyus & CZ nodded politely and left the restaurant, when they were back outside, Lakyus looked over at CZ. "I'm sorry to leave you now, but I need to go to the Synod, Neia shouldn't be there alone."

"Go." CZ replied, and hefted her spell gun. Actions spoke more clearly than words, and Lakyus bowed quietly and left.

Now alone, CZ approached a guard and got directions to the Dancing Mare. When she arrived she took a look around. There were patrons aplenty, none of them especially wealthy, but none of them dirt poor either. They were reasonably well dressed and the furniture was 'middle tier' quality by New World standards. Simple carved wood with some varnish slapped on it. The drinks were mostly beer and ale, but a few drank what was probably cheap wine. There was minimal decor, a little mediocre landscape art on the walls featuring rolling hills and small isolated homes, nothing special, nothing fancy, just good enough. She approached the innkeeper and rented a room, she then disappeared to it for a little while, allowing some time to pass before she came back down, checking to be sure the former desk clerk had been replaced, and then she approached the desk again. "Is Ryli here?" She asked.

"No." The desk clerk said flatly, offering no further knowledge.

"When she arrives, tell her that Mir will be waiting in room three one three. He has a deal for Ryli." She said, and walked out the front door.

The innkeeper watched her go, then when a woman walked in and simply claimed a corner seat, the clerk approached her. CZ had indeed walked out, but she walked out to the back of the inn, found the window to her room, leaped up to the window sill and climbed in. A few minutes later, a woman walked in, the door closed.

"Alright Mir, what do you have for me?" A fierce sounding voice said, and that was when CZ struck her on the back of the head.

"Abrupt. But questions require answers." She said to the unconscious woman, and then she called for a gate and dragged the woman through by her foot as soon as it opened.

When Ryli woke up, she found that her wrists ached, as one would expect, because her next realization was that she was hanging from them. She also found that she wasn't wearing anything. She kept her breathing modulated and slow, forcing herself to stay calm. Info brokers like her faced this kind of thing as an occupational hazard. What was not the usual hazard was the girl who walked in wearing very nice but unusually cut clothing. She had long blonde hair worn in a braid and soft, pale looking skin, but in the firelight of the place, her eyes stood out. The girl carried herself like a young peasant, but her eyes told a different story.

"Hiya. I'm Vanysa, an'a got some questions for yah, an yer gonna tell me all I wants ta know, m'kay?" She said with a very sweet smile.

Ryli was not a weak woman, she was muscled without bulk, toned, skilled… she thought, at detecting a trap, evading capture, and fairly decent at hand to hand combat. She was after all, still alive, where a lot of others were dead. Her long red hair might as well have represented her fiery spirit, and she sneered defiantly. "Nah, ah don't think so. Ah think I'll escape, kill you, and then escape from this place entirely, this is just part of the job for me."

The blond woman who called herself Vanysa giggled, and the giggle became a cackle, and then wings burst out from her back, talons grew from her fingers, her skin turned a dark purplish shade, and her hair went black, horns sprouted from her head, and she flew forward, her body completely covering the now shocked Ryli. One talon went under her chin and forced her to look up. Vanysa's mouth opened, baring fangs. "You do have a job to do." She cooed softly, "My master says you get to live, that you'll be useful to him, but because you had a direct hand in trying to kill his pope… you must be punished… and all information must be taken from you, and then you will be 'baptized' into his service. I don't know which will hurt you worse."

Ryli began to shake, Vanysa stared into her eyes, and inhaled as if Ryli were a flower with a lovely scent. "There is so much guilt in you… so much… I want it… I'm so hungry…" Vanysa said, and Ryli's confusion was still rising, when the teeth sank into flesh and the information broker began to kick and scream.

Captain Strega was having a fine time. These were the most comfortable clothes he'd ever worn, the wine was the best he'd ever had, the food was beyond sumptuous, he doubted he could go back to his old fare after this. He and three other men sat in various places around the restaurant, ordering, eating, talking with patrons, and generally having a very good time while they did their jobs. Identifying the right restaurant by the silver tray had turned out to be easy. The waiter however, had taken several hours, not that anybody minded. When things began to close down, they started to leave and spread themselves out, following an ordinary waiter was child's play, he didn't know he was being watched, and even if he felt it, who would suspect a wealthy merchant in the finest clothing? He smirked at the man's back.

Within an hour after his shift, they knew where he lived, and after leaving a few men to stake the place out, Captain Strega turned around to walk back to report to Commander Skana. Even as he returned, he thought of all the wonderful meals he could eat with the bonus he was sure to get for this.

**AN: Hope you liked it. Leave a review, join me on discord (invite code on the author page) or donate to bdgiving dot org if you want to help motivate the author. :) **


	8. Weakness

**AN: This chapter contains both a 'sacred text' going from G 1-1 to G 1-100, if you have no interest in learning more about the religion I'm building, skip that part and just read the plot points first. Enjoy!**

_…Synod of Arwintar…_

Neia paced, it was one of her distinctive traits, she was an active speaker. She did not simply stand still and stare at her audience, she moved about the center of their view, never too far in any direction, but around within the center to keep their eyes following her where she wanted them to. She gestured with her hands, making herself seem stern or open, smiling warmly or glaring with ferocity, she was more than a speaker, she was a master performer, and the perfect inflections of her evangelist voice rang to the core of every person who heard her, even if they didn't wish it to be so.

Yet now she was being grilled, hour upon hour for the morning, questions had come her way, challenges were to be expected, but the harshest was also the one she had least expected. She had prepared for challenges to her god, she had not prepared for what came for her, and it was near the height of this nigh interrogation, that Lakyus entered as a late arrival and took her seat, only to be enraged by what she heard.

"How can any of us listen to you? You're just another butcher, a killer, a thug who slaughtered her way through Prart and killed everyone in Wenmark, what can you know of any gods?" A priest jeered out. Silence fell, and pressure built around Neia as her rage was inflamed. Lakyus felt it from where she sat, she was an adamantite adventurer, but this was something else. For the other priests, ones who had lived soft lives, it might as well have been the weight of a thousand horses on their chests. Lakyus though, being a priestess, and having felt it not once, but twice before, was now sure of what it was. Divine wrath… not hers, but simply 'through' her. Priest and priestesses were having trouble breathing around her, and then the pressure faded as Lakyus saw Neia's body relax as the anger faded.

"My actions," she said firmly, "Were those of a soldier and a warrior, I acted in the service of life itself, to preserve the lives I could. My failures… are mine alone, including my failure to the slaves of Wenmark. It is because I have done these things, not in spite of them, that I can and must speak. So that nobody who lives after my passing ever must go through it again. I act in the service of the divine today because he plucked me from among many and has placed his faith in me as I have placed my faith in him. I am not mad for blood and take no lives that I can spare. Now if you are through attacking me, let us focus on the issue at hand." Neia said with iron finality.

Lakyus glared at the priest who had said that, and snapped out on her own, "I wasn't at Prart, I was however, at Wenmark. That city deserved its destruction, I have seen evil in my time. I have seen cruelty and butchery most foul, but never something so well organized, so thorough, so sick and twisted, not even from the handiwork of demons. That city deserved its end. Don't tell me it didn't, not if you weren't there, and if you were there and you don't think it deserved to be destroyed, then you deserve the same fate it suffered!" Lakyus's voice was one of ice, and any remaining discussion on that subject was stilled.

The grilling went on, and Lakyus looked down at Neia with abiding concern. She knew quite well that Neia had been putting on a strong face, but she was still a deeply troubled woman, Skana had privately confided, in priestly confidence, that Neia woke up with nightmares more nights than not, and their love making had more than once seemed more a frenzied desperation born of something other than simple desire, as if it could let her forget. A slot was reserved for her in a place of treatment and recovery, but even with Lakyus and CZ's intervention, she'd refused to go until this matter was settled, and down below, she felt how raw Neia still truly was over everything she'd seen and done.

But Neia soldiered on, and finally, as the topic turned to generosity among the divine, Neia began to recite from her text…

The Book of Generosity…

G 1-1 Who gives what is not theirs to give is thrice the thief. 1-2 For they have taken what is not theirs, given themselves a reputation not deserved, and in giving the stolen away, knowing it may be reclaimed, has stolen the happiness and the faith of the recipient.

G 1-3 There will be times when those in need who are dear to you, do not need what you have to give. 1-4 When this is how things are, you may still give, only offer out to them your love, your understanding, your friendship. 1-5 That you are there in the hour of their need, is gift enough.

G 1-6 Who has traveled a long way to give you a gift, has given you two gifts, the one in his hands, and the journey it took to bring it.

G 1-7 Accept with gratitude that which is freely given, even if it is imperfect, it may be all that can be managed.

G 1-8 Who brings the gift of laughter, has brought a light into the darkness.

An Encounter with the Sorcerer King

G 1-9 There once was a woman weeping at a bench in one of the many parks of E-Rantel, she wept so loud that when the Sorcerer King passed by on one of his walks among the people, he took notice of her. 1-10 "Woman, why do you weep?" He asked of her.

1-11 "I weep because I am to be wed, but my family has lost everything, I have no dowry to bring to my husband."

1-12 At this the Sorcerer King drew back in surprise, "Are you not living? 1-13 Have you not your beating heart, have you not the warmth of your smile, are you not able to bring happiness into the home you share?" 1-14 She nodded weakly at his words and he added, taking her living hands into his skeletal ones, "When you show him all the broken little pieces of yourself, the things that have frightened you, scarred you, you have put a weapon in his hands to shatter you afresh, that trust is your dowry, and is more precious than any coin." 1-15 So saying, he took from his pocket several platinum coins and put them into her hands and said, "For you both, go and celebrate your union."

G 1-16 So generosity and giving comes from more than goods, and even more than in our actions, it also comes from what we offer from within, the trust that, armed with the means to hurt us deeply, those with that power, never use it, and instead seek to soothe those many hurts.

G 1-17 Who heals the sick and the injured is the true servant of god. 1-18 Who creates the sick and the injured, through selfish greed or hatred, bears only his wrath.

G 1-19 No commerce fairly done for the common good is wrong. 1-20 Yet commerce that preys on the desperate is a monster fit only to be slain. 1-21 If your neighbor's child is sick and you have the mana to heal her, and you refuse because he lacks the coin, there is no moral distinction between you and a murderer.

G 1-20 Do not abuse the generosity of others, if a man offers you half his sandwich, do not demand the whole one, if you are offered a bed for the night, do not think yourself owed it for all time.

G 1-21 Giving is done with deliberate intent each time, that a neighbor allows you the use of their tool on Monday, do not presume to simply take them again on Tuesday.

G 1-22 What is borrowed, should be returned as well or better than the manner in which it was received in the first place.

G 1-23 Accept kindness with responsibility. 1-24 If a man should bring a cask of beer sufficient to quench the thirst of a dozen, and there are a dozen present, let not one single person among the twelve take so much that another must go without. 1-25 For generosity to spread justly, be not a miser.

G 1-26 If you give a gift, do not attempt to command its use, else it is not truly given, it remains your own. 1-27 To give a gift is to give up the right to control it. 1-28 This too includes the gift of life. 1-29 A child's life is their own, and at adulthood they may live as they see fit, love as they like, marry as they will, work how they wish. Their gift to you then should be your pride in their uniqueness, accomplishment, or character.

G 1-30 To give your body to another's embrace is always a gift of equal trust, one that must not be broken. 1-31 The value of that gift is not degraded by experience, whether one lover or one hundred, in that moment of offering, what matters is that it is offered to you, and by you. 1-32 The sex of lovers does not matter, only that they are lovers by choice, of their own free will, and have the capacity to make that choice as adults. 1-33 Who manipulates a child's trust into such an act, is deserving of an endless torment.

G 1-34 Who is generous in order to extort, is not generous.

G 1-35 Apportion your giving to your ability, do not destroy yourself, for you are also responsible for your own wellbeing.

G 1-36 To desire to give is good, yet you need not yield up every joy of your own, you too, are permitted happiness.

G 1-37 When a need is observed, do not say that someone should do something, because 'you' are someone, instead, say 'I' will do something. Who does this is the true servant of god, who does not, I do not know them.

G 1-38 Know that you cannot, no matter your kindness, always save people from themselves, or from the consequences of their actions.

An Encounter with Self Destruction

G 1-39 There was once the son of a rich man, he had all one could want in life, save the flaw that his father still lived. 1-40 Eventually he got his final wish, and his father passed away, leaving him everything. 1-41 All his world seemed perfect, and he chose to celebrate his good fortune, he threw lavish parties, purchased the finest wines, indulged himself with the greatest beauties all while his lifelong servants looked on in distress. 1-42 The good servants had dutifully stored away their pay, and watched the young man squander all his wealth, though they warned him often, he would not listen. 1-43 Soon the money ran drier than an abandoned well. 1-44 When it was gone, they tried to save the boy they knew, they loaned him money from their pockets, which slipped away through his fingers in the form of other needless purchases, he ran into debt, and borrowed more from the servants who had become his creditors. 1-45 In the end he was no better off than before, and the servants themselves became as poor as he was, having nothing left to lend him, and nothing left to live on, the lot of them destroyed themselves, throwing good money after bad into the pit of a man who would not help himself.

G 1-46 Therefore help to the helpless may be called good, whereas help to those who will not help themselves and who will only take ever more, while never seeking to change the means by which they live, may be called folly.

G 1-47 Generosity is an investment in a better world, and the fruit that is born from it, is creating others with the ability to do the same.

G 1-48 You ask how you will know what is needed, and what you should do? 1-49 I tell you that you will always know at least something of the answer. 1-49 Are the people sick? 1-50 Then do they not need medicine? 1-51 Are they cold, do they not require homes and blankets? 1-52 Or simply ask, what help would I require, if I stood in the place of those in need? 1-53 To say one does not know what to do, is nearly always wrong, rather what they truly mean is, 'They do not know where to begin'. 1-54 At the beginning, in the simplest of ways, the smallest of actions, lay them down as the foundation for all that follows.

G 1-55 Do not make a beggar of your mate. 1-56 If your mate bears the labor of the house while you labor for the wealth of it, know that they are not your servant, they are your partner. 1-57 It is not an act of generosity to feed them, clothe them, or see them provided for. 1-58 Just as it is no indication of great sight to see the sun in the morning, so it is nothing to boast of providing for the comfort and wellbeing of your mate, that is your duty to them.

G 1-59 The greatest generosity is the surrender of one's life, that others need not perish, or that the future may thrive. 1-60 That is the gift of tomorrow, honor those who fall that you may have it, and you will be a good servant of your god.

G 1-61 Do not seek to give your life gloriously for a cause, but rather, live humbly for it whenever possible and accept that the need may one day come.

G 1-62 Do not lend what you are not prepared to give.

G 1-63 Do not promise more than you give, only give more than you promise. 1-64 To do the first is to deceive. 1-65 To do the second is to joyfully surprise.

G 1-66 To give your word is a good gift only if your word is reliable. 1-67 Who treats his own word like dirt, will find others treating it the same. 1-68 Who treats his word like gold, will see it sought after with zeal.

G 1-69 Generosity to the unprepared may be destructive, it must be tempered with reason. 1-70 Giving a child all that they ask for, while neglecting to teach them, will put a viper at the breast of your house and your community. 1-71 Therefore moderate your desire to be generous with your need to be disciplined, and to impart discipline and a sense of communal obligation.

G 1-72 Celebrate the gifts given to others. 1-73 Do not drown in your own jealousy, it will eat you alive from within until there is nothing left of you. 1-74 Ask not, 'Why does she deserve that?' rather ask, 'What should I do, that I deserve the same?' and if you are not given it, do not cling to what you never truly had. 1-75 Clinging to things lost that were never had, will have you endlessly reaching for what is beyond you, while dropping all of what is close to you.

G 1-76 Gifts given that better the mind, body, and spirit surpass the worth of gifts which merely sustain or temporarily satisfy it.

G 1-77 Generosity does not buy love, you cannot bribe your way into another's heart, and it is an insult to even try.

G 1-78 Do not lord your generosity over those to whom you give, be humble even in the giving of a gift. 1-79 Seek connection and understanding, attempt to elevate those you help so that they may stand beside you. 1-80 If your giving is there solely to let you feel that you are better, then the act of giving was only for yourself.

G 1-81 Say no when you must, and without shame, there is no guilt to be had in saying no when asked to do what you cannot or should not.

G 1-82 Who demands your generosity in exchange for their company, is neither friend nor comrade to you. 1-83 Favors are done between friends. 1-84 Favors can never be done that will 'gain' friends. 1-85 If a friend will sever a friendship for want of a favor, then it was only for your favor that they were your friend.

G 1-86 It is not generosity to spare someone in full from the consequences of their actions. 1-87 Who says to you, 'I have done this wrong, go and take the blame for me' and will allow you to suffer their consequences, is no comrade of yours.

G 1-88 Where conflict becomes violent, give the gift of mercy to the guiltless. 1-89 Where captives are taken, give them their dignity, for are you not also given it as your due, by he who rules over you?

G 1-90 Even in punishment, generosity need not die. 1-91 Teach by example, for the wrongdoer who has not gone too far, may come back and reclaim his place in the community. 1-92 Who is taught how to live, will come to the means to help others to do so. 1-93 Who is punished and taught nothing of how to live, will need to be punished again. 1-94 Who is degraded as a mere beast by punishment, and not given the gift of living dignity, will become a beast in turn, and his abuse will return to haunt you.

G 1-95 Mercy to the cruel, may be kindness for them, but it is cruelty to the victims. 1-96 Therefore a balance must exist between justice and mercy. 1-97 Who has little to give, but gives, is most generous. 1-98 Who has much, and gives much, is the next most generous. 1-99 Who has much and gives little is but little generous. 1-100 Who has much and offers nothing, is unworthy of anything, and is neither my follower, nor your neighbor, nor your family.

When Neia ended her recitation, the sun was just passing beyond the opening of the building, as if the divine was removing his light from her as his words ceased to pour from her mouth. An end to the day was called, and gradually the figures in the many seats began to filter out. Neia was the last to leave, and outside the door, Lakyus waited.

"Neia… are you alright?" She asked, her voice was filled with concern, and Neia turned around to look at her, and it was just as she did so that Lakyus caught a glimpse, just a glimpse, of what lay beneath the mask that Neia wore. She had a warm smile pasted on her face that would have fooled virtually anyone, but the glimpse she'd gotten was enough to let Lakyus pierce the veil and see that no… Neia Baraja was not alright.

"I'm fine, thank you, rough day in there today though." She said, giving an exaggerated gesture of wiping nonexistent sweat from her brow, it was an overly dramatic gesture of the sort Neia did not normally engage in, and it was a telling sign for the experienced priestess.

Lakyus reached out and snatched Neia's hand with both of her own. "You're not fine, Neia." She said in a hushed and urgent voice, "They got to you in there, I felt it, I felt his power slip through you."

Neia shook her head, "I don't know what you're talking about." She said and snatched her hand away.

"That was the third time I've felt it, I'm not an idiot, you know." Lakyus said. "I stood in his presence, I felt his aura, and I'm a priestess, and I felt it the other day when Skana…"

"Don't say it!" Neia shouted with wide eyes, "Please don't say it!" Her fists bunched tight and she closed her eyes as tight as she could, "Please… just don't say it, I don't want to think about it, I can't think about it." She said softly, numerous eyes from passersby had turned to look their way, but then moved on at a wave from Lakyus and the softer words of Neia no longer reached their hearing range.

Lakyus did her that kindness and said, "And I also felt it that day at Prart." Her voice was soft, and she reached out and took Neia's hand again, more gently this time, and this time it wasn't yanked away.

"Neia, you're not well, the war is OVER now, please… stop this, the Sorcerer… your god cares about you, please, tell him you need help now, nobody will think less of you for it."

Neia's eyes snapped open and she looked at Lakyus accusingly. "Are you saying that because you care about me? Or are you saying that because you don't want the god you followed your whole life to lose their place?"

Lakyus reacted immediately, she drew her hand back and was about to slap Neia across the face, but she paused before coming any closer, not because she saw Neia's other hand go to her sword, which she couldn't have missed in a thousand years, but because when she looked into her eyes, she saw a tortured soul being ripped apart from within and lashing out in desperation. Lakyus brought her hand down.

She stepped closer, and Neia took a step back as she realized she'd almost drawn her sword. "I… I'm sorry, please forgive me." Neia said and bowed her head.

"Neia, it's alright, everything is going to be alright, everyone is going to be alright. Please just let's go get help." Lakyus said.

"I'm fine, I promise I'll… I will be fine. I just can't stop now, OK? If I stop now, everything will have been for nothing, you know what they'll say? Who would follow the god of a mad woman? Crazy Neia couldn't keep it together? They'll say I'm weak, that I couldn't hack it, and they'll ask what kind of a god would have a weakling do this?!" She snapped out.

"They'll be wrong!" Lakyus said emphatically, grabbing Neia's shoulders and giving her a sound shake, "They'll be wrong, alright? You're not weak! There is nothing wrong with you that is your fault!"

Neia put her thumb and forefinger to her eyes, looked down, and brought her fingers together at the bridge of her nose and shook her head, she looked up with clearer eyes, her mask restored. "Suppose you're right, and they would be wrong? So what? It doesn't change that they'll say it, and it won't stop others from believing it, and then everything will go to shit and I'll have lost everyone I lost, without achieving final victory. Don't you get it? Whether they're right or wrong doesn't matter, I 'have' to get through to the end of this."

"Even if it kills you?" Lakyus asked.

"In a lot of ways, it's far too late for that." Neia said softly, "Thanks for your concern, Lakyus, I mean that, and… I'm sorry again about going for my sword, you're just trying to help, and you didn't deserve that reaction. I'll go back to the hotel for now, you should catch up with Skana and CZ and see what progress they've made on the investigation."

"Alright." Lakyus said, certain that Neia hadn't even heard her, and they parted ways, each one walking off alone.

**AN: Well here you go, double release and I hope you enjoy it. :) This chapter took a lot to write, getting PTSD written properly into a character is no easy task, and I hope I executed it well. If you enjoy this story and would like to see an audio version produced, you can support that project on P atreon dot com slash godrising. You could also join me on discord for readings, early story access, and more.**


	9. Breaks Behind the Mask

Neia walked back to her temporary residence, passing a number of bars along the way. She sighed, she wanted a drink and if she was being truthful, she wanted a lot of them. However this was a time of great importance, she couldn't cut loose publicly, the rumor mill would rip her apart. The streets were calm and peaceful, and she was comforted by that. The rule of the emperor under the command of her god had been a prosperous one. Security was tight.

She let her thoughts carry her while her feet went on without her direction. She knew she drew the occasional look, some from people who recognized her, some of whom followed her, and others who merely felt her presence as an unconscious thing. Having a commanding presence had become an ingrained part of her identity, something so much a part of her that it never truly faded, so… from those attuned to those forces, she drew looks. It made her value her privacy that much more.

She felt on edge, from everything. The near death of herself and the actual death of her wife had been a great deal to endure. Well... that and the constant grilling, while many of the priests were her allies in there, those of the Baharuth Empire, many of those of Re-Estize, most of her homeland, and virtually all of the Draconic Kingdom, that did not mean there were not hold outs. The former Slane Theocracy had most of them, but they were by no means alone. Individual temples who opposed the inclusion of a new god or the replacement of the old were united against her, and they comprised enough that there was the very real possibility of defeat here. To have won the war, only to have lost the point of it… she let out a heavy sigh and covered her face, then as she rounded the corner, she felt a collision.

Her hand immediately went to her bow and she leaped back from the threat, she'd drawn the bow before she even identified the cause of the collision. There on the ground was a terrified child. She froze, realizing what she'd almost… 'almost', done, and she put the bow away. "Are you alright, child?" She asked, coming close to him. He was a boy of perhaps eight and had sandy hair and tan skin framing brown eyes.

He looked at her from the ground in shock, from his perspective he'd almost died, he looked at Neia in absolute terror, when the collision happened and she'd jumped straight to combat posture, some of her killing intent had been unleashed, and as a result the unprepared child was frozen in terror.

Even when that killing intent died and the bow was put away, Neia's approach was not a welcome thing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" She didn't get to say more, because as she came closer he rolled to a sprinter's starting position and took off in the opposite direction, wailing in distress.

Neia stood there, rooted to the spot for a moment, still reaching out awkwardly to assist the fleeing child and let out a heavy sigh while cursing her overreaction and resumed the walk back to her hotel. She went back to being lost in her own thoughts. "I nearly killed that kid." She said with a shudder. "By my god, if I'd been drinking, would I have realized in time that it was just an accident?" She said softly. As she muttered under her breath, she reflected wordlessly how much she'd lied to Lakyus about her wellbeing. It was a huge relief when she got to the hotel, she didn't go to the room being used for investigation, instead she stopped by the front desk and asked that a few bottles of wine be sent up to her room, and then she hurried away, eager to be alone.

When she got there, she didn't get in bed, she went and sat in a corner of the room and just stared at nothing until a knock at the door confirmed the arrival of what she'd wanted. She got up, shaped her face into a perfect mask of smiles and warmth, and approached to let the delivery in. "Hi, thank you for coming." She said to the young smartly dressed man wheeling a cart. He pushed it inside and set the bottles on a nearby table.

"Of course, ma'am, always happy to serve." He said with a contented smile that held an almost radiant innocence. His manners were the kind of perfection expected of elite establishments such as this one, and Neia tipped him generously as he left. "I hope you and your visitors have a wonderful evening." He said as he walked out.

Neia almost denied having any, and then realized what he thought. She looked at the bottles on the table, he assumed it was for more than one, and she chose not to correct him. Instead she gave him a practiced smile and allowed him to leave without another word. When the door shut behind her, she went straight for the bottle and ripped out the cork. She didn't need a glass. Not for the first, second, third, or fourth bottle. She didn't even taste it, though she only felt it as she sat in her corner and let herself crash into the mental oblivion she longed for. It was a relief to pass out, and she didn't start to come too until Skana returned.

Lakyus had taken her time after leaving the Synod, mentally putting together everything they knew as she walked, but most of all the truth was, she was worried about Neia, the woman had lied to her, that much Lakyus knew. She wasn't fine, and wouldn't be, not at this pace. The grilling, the stress, and the aftereffects of the war ate at her. Given all she'd seen, it was a wonder she wasn't already a gibbering mess. A lot of people were like that, the war ended, but they never really came home.

As she walked, she came to a decision, there was only one to whom she could speak about this. She cast a message spell. "Sebas." She said as it connected.

"Lady Lakyus, what can I do for you?" He asked.

"Would it be possible for me to speak with…" she paused, speaking of him, let alone to him, was always quite an experience, "the Sorcerer King? I don't want to be a bother, but it's about Neia Baraja, and he's the only one who I can turn to in this."

There was silence for a few minutes, and a moment later a gate opened in an alley just out of the corner of her eye. "Enter," he said. "Lord Ainz awaits you in his office."

"Thank you." She said, and cut the connection. She took several swift long steps, and then she was out of Arwintar, and found herself in a very functional but ornate, private office. There wasn't one item in the room that wasn't worth a wealthy kingdom's annual budget, but that was no longer the least bit surprising to the apostate priestess. What was surprising was how quickly she'd gotten her request granted, and that she was alone with him in this place, she'd expected a more public setting.

"Sit." The Sorcerer King said, breaking her out of her reverie as he gestured to a nearby chair next to the desk at which he sat.

She bowed deeply, "I'm sorry, I should have bowed as soon as I came in, it's just…" He waved away her objection.

"It's fine. This is an unusual situation." He said. "Plus you've done a great service to me, Ryli has proved a treasure trove of information, but I'll tell you what Vanysa wrung from her in a moment, why don't you begin, tell me what troubles you about my representative." It was phrased as a question, but it wasn't a question.

"Sire, may I first ask a question of my own?" Lakyus said as she claimed the seat he'd gestured to. She put her hands together in her lap and looked at him curiously until he nodded.

"Proceed." He said.

"Your majesty, how do you feel about her?" Lakyus asked.

It was clearly not what he expected her to ask, and though his skeletal face had no expression he leaned back in his chair and remained silent for what felt like a solid minute.

"That is a… complicated subject." He answered. She nodded, but added nothing in response. He remained silent for a long time.

"You know how we met of course," he said and she nodded again. "She was the first human of her kingdom to put faith in me, the first to truly devote herself to my will. Even at Carne, where they were loyal to the death, it was not the same. Neia personally served me through danger, even losing her life carrying out my will. The villagers of Carne largely sought to repay a debt and though they took risks, they wanted to continue their lives as they had before. Neia Baraja was went another direction entirely. She dedicated her life to me in a constant way that nobody outside Nazarick had ever done before." Ainz said, and though his face could tell her nothing, the tone of his voice was filled with something resembling affection.

"I wondered at one point if she had fallen in love with me." He chuckled slightly and Lakyus' hand darted to cover her mouth, but he shook his head dispelling the notion. "But I realized that she saw me as a father like figure in her life. She did not grow up happily, and to her I filled a void. In time, I came to see her in a similar light, before I was as I am now, I had no children or grandchildren. In a manner of speaking, you could say she's like a child of my own. So to answer your question, I care about her." He said.

This revelation hit Lakyus like a ton of bricks. "I… see." She began, but he was not done.

"I know I have asked very much of her, I didn't really realize it until after Wenmark. The intricacies of the human mind are still somewhat lost on me, but I know she's been deeply wounded." He said with a shake of his head that spoke of ample regret for her mental scarring.

"I see." Lakyus repeated, more firmly this time, "Sire, I beg your pardon for the presumptuous of the question, but I don't ask without good reason. Plainly put, Neia is getting worse. The stress of the Synod, the near permanent death of her wife, she's fraying at the edges and I don't know how much longer she can keep it together. She almost drew a sword on me in the middle of the street, that isn't like her...not at all. She needs help. Is there nothing that can be done ?" Lakyus asked, leaning in desperately.

"I didn't know you were that close to her." The Sorcerer King said curiously.

"Well, we grew closer during the last battle of Prart." Lakyus said, "My sisters and I did spend a lot of time there after all." Lakyus said by way of explanation.

"I see, so you would be well positioned to recognize when something is wrong." Ainz said thoughtfully.

"Yes, your majesty." Lakyus said and nodded emphatically. "She blames herself for a great deal, and even what isn't a matter of blame, well she lived through worse events than perhaps anyone else, even for the most case hardened, pain and the fear of it can cripple someone even after it and the threat of it passes."

Ainz nodded slowly, thinking of the veterans of the terrible wars of his old world.

"The construction of the halls of healing is complete." Ainz said. "They finished very recently in fact. You know about them, correct?" He asked.

Lakyus shook her head. "I heard some vague notions of places of recovery but… nothing specific."

"In another world I visited, there were terrible wars, and they left many maimed in body and mind over thousands and thousands of years of human history. The kingdoms, empires, and nations of that world created, as a result, many who were maimed in mind as Neia is. As a result, they had much experience in treating her condition, the halls I have built are intended for that purpose, to help bring people back from the horror they endured." Ainz said.

Lakyus almost missed all the rest of what he'd said, when his casual mention of other worlds and thousands upon thousands of years of human history hit home for her, but she maintained focus and resolved to ask more later. "Sire, why is she not there then?" Lakyus asked.

Ainz folded his skeletal fingers together on the desk, "Because unlike magic to heal the body, healing the mind is another matter. She has to recognize the problem, she has to accept that she needs help, and she has to actively participate in it all the way. If I ordered her to go, she would obey, but unless her heart is in it, she won't get better. Moreover, as long as she sees it as a defect in her character, or fears that others will, she won't allow herself to be seen as someone who needs help."

"But she's not weak!" Lakyus almost hissed out to avoid shouting at the Sorcerer King.

"No, she is not. I told her as much. You needn't convince me of that." He said flatly.

"Oh, so you don't…" She began.

"No. I do not see any failure or weakness. If a man stabs you through the eye, are you weak for losing sight there?" He asked rhetorically. "Of course not, nor is she weak for this injury to her mental health. But it is easier to convince someone they're injured when an eyeball goes missing, than it is to convince them that they're injured when their mind is tearing them apart."

Lakyus felt the frustration coming off of him as he spoke. "We can be our own worst enemies, can't we?" She said with equal frustration as she thought back to her time with Keeno.

"Very much so." He replied.

"What can be done then?" Lakyus asked.

"There are few options." The Sorcerer King admitted. "If the Synod of Arwintar were ended already, she could withdraw from the public eye, I could have Pestonya treat her here in Nazarick, bring her friends together, along with some of the other Black Justice veterans that suffer similar to the way she has. Many of them are already attending various houses around the Sorcerous Empire." Ainz said with some relief.

"I didn't know that." Lakyus said with surprise.

"You didn't think I'd forget about them, did you?" He asked with some reproof in his voice.

"Your majesty, forgive me for such a base thought. I am ill accustomed to rulers who mind the well being of those far below their station." Lakyus said with a bowing of her head.

Ainz allowed the apology to stand. "In any case, as the Synod is not complete, that isn't an option, if I ordered her to remove herself, she might fall apart completely."

"Could it be cast as a reward? Allow someone else to speak, perhaps Skana or one of the other priests from your temples in Arwintar, then bring her to Nazarick for a time to recover and cope with the stress?" Lakyus asked.

Ainz touched his chin in a gesture that was… very human in Lakyus's eyes, prompting her to wonder what he was before this, a question she resolved to ask one day soon if opportunity presented itself.

"Yes, that might work. Tell me, how is your investigation going? I did offer the services of Demiurge and Vanysa, and the offer still stands." Ainz said.

"We're optimistic, you got Ryli from us after all, and the emperor cooperated very well. If everything went well with Skana, the guards that were appropriated will have found the origin of the food and the server. I'll find out when I return to the hotel. Did Ryli reveal anything of significance?" Lakyus asked.

Lakyus was sure that if his face allowed it, he'd have had a wolfish grin on his face, given how he spoke next. "Oh yes. As I said, a treasure trove of information, but as to this in particular, the chief revelation was that she is also tied to the poisoner."

"You have a name sire?" Lakyus asked with surprise. He shook his head.

"No, she didn't know who it was, but there is a clue in her quarters, I was going to have it recovered, but as you're here, I will leave that to you. The clerk at the front desk who works the night shift is one of her contacts, he handles deliveries for her, she said to look for a bottle in her room at the hotel, and that would lead you back to the source. According to her, and after all that she's been put through I believe her statement, while she is not the poisoner, she has used it before and it came in an identical bottle, and she saw this bottle on the person she spoke with. Find the bottle's origin, and you should be able to trace it back to its source, and from there, to whom it was sold."

Lakyus stood up, "Thank you, your majesty. I'll get right on it." She said.

"Oh, and one more thing." Ainz said, raising one bony finger of warning. "If you notice a sudden surge in happiness in Neia Baraja, notify me personally, and immediately."

Lakyus looked at him in surprise, but bowed in return, "It will be done, your majesty." She said, and within minutes he had a gate opened for her and she found herself in front of a hotel. She wasted no time, walking in immediately and going to the front desk.

"Give me the key to Ryli's room." She said.

The man at the front desk balked at her demand, but was too surprised to even retort, so Lakyus leaned in and whispered softly to him.

"Ryli has been taken by the Sorcerer King for her involvement in the assassination attempt on Pope Neia Baraja, that attack killed the wife of that dragon riding pope, and your connection to Ryli is known, now you have two choices, give me the goddamn key or expect to see Ryli again very soon, the only reason you're talking to me and not to the personal interrogator of the Sorcerer King is because I just happened to be in front of him when he informed me about it and he asked me to check it out personally. Now… give… me… the key." She said.

He did not balk further, he reached back and with a practiced gesture, pulled it from the wall and placed it on the desk. "Note that I am… cooperating." He said with a hard swallow.

"Noted." She said and snatched it up and checked out the number etched on its side. A few minutes later she turned it in the lock and walked in, it was a neat enough room, standard fare for a hotel like this one. She went to a wardrobe and rummaged through it, there were various types of clothing, from the finest to the farthest from the fine one could imagine. Probably to allow her to blend easily into multiple venues. She went to a desk and riffled through it, nothing special except a trashy novel. "Pervy's Paradise." She read the cover and picked it up. She flipped open the novel when she felt the unusual weight, and there she found what she sought. The pages had been painstakingly cut out in the center, creating a place to store small objects, in this case, a very finely crafted bottle. Lakyus dropped the book and looked at what she now held, it was incredibly ornate, clearly meant for something special. It was capped with a small pump, and that gave away the purpose.

"Perfume." She said with absolute confidence. "So, this was how it was delivered, and something like this is was what it was stored in." She said out loud to the empty room. She left and went downstairs, the desk clerk was gone, she thought nothing of it. He no longer mattered, and she was quite certain he'd be running for the rest of his life.

She left that hotel and returned back to her own. CZ and Skana were waiting for her in their impromptu headquarters with Captain Strega.

"Who is this?" Lakyus asked curiously.

"Ma'am, I'm Captain Strega, one of the soldiers assigned to your assistance for the duration of this investigation ma'am." He said crisply and he rendered a prompt salute.

"I see." Lakyus said and took her seat. "Have you anything to report?" She asked.

"Ma'am, I do, ma'am." He said stiffly.

"Proceed." Skana said gesturing with one hand for him to stand in front of them, as CZ shut the door, closing them in.

"My soldiers found both the waiter and the restaurant at which he works, that same restaurant uses trays exactly like the one you described. We also know exactly where the waiter lives, and I have teams tailing him at all times, he can't make a move without our knowing it, he can be taken at any time."

"Marvelous work, Captain." Lakyus said with a firm conviction in her voice. "I will commend you and your men to your emperor for this."

"Ma'am, thank you, ma'am." He said firmly.

"You may go for now, tell your men that CZ and I will be stopping by tonight to… collect, the waiter personally," she said. "Just have them keep an eye on him for now, and while you're at it, keep an eye on the chef from the restaurant as well. I doubt he was involved, these high class chefs seems to take their food ethics very seriously, but it couldn't hurt as a precaution. Come back and wait outside after informing your men, and we should be ready shortly after you return." Lakyus said, and he promptly exited with a polite bow.

"Find something?" Skana asked.

"Lots." CZ answered.

"Yes." Lakyus added. "The one who sold the reservation information did so to a broker named Ryli, we captured her and she was sent for questioning in Nazarick, she revealed everything, though that wasn't as much as we'd hoped. She wasn't the poisoner herself, but she did know what held the poison." Lakyus took the bottle out of the pouch she carried as she explained what she'd learned and how she'd found it. "This, it is meant for perfume, the waiter probably sprayed this onto the cheesecake before serving it, and while it wasn't this bottle, I'd wager we find one just like it in the waiter's home."

"Elegant delivery system." Skana said almost admiringly. "So we need to find where that bottle came from then, don't we?" She asked.

"We do. Which won't be all that hard, this is a very expensive design, one I don't recognize, which means we can eliminate two sources for it, it didn't come from anywhere in the Baharuth Empire, and it didn't come from the Re-Estize Kingdom." She said with an emphatic nod.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Skana asked incredulously.

"Remember who I am, Skana." Lakyus said with a smile, "I'm an adamantite adventurer as well as a noble, I've attended countless formal events in both of these two countries, if any formal sale of perfume had taken place in a bottle like this, I would have at least seen it. That means it isn't one used by the royalty or nobility of either location."

"Slane Theocracy." CZ said abruptly.

"Right, I'm not a gambler like Tia or Tina, but I'd be willing to bet that we find a perfumer in that region that uses bottles just like this, and I'll just bet that our waiter can give us an exact description, or close enough, to just who we're looking for." Lakyus said with a satisfied smile.

"One problem." Skana said, "We don't even know that he was as involved as he seems."

CZ and Lakyus looked at Skana incredulously.

She looked right back at them. "Look, so far everybody we've managed to track down has been a dupe of some sort. The restaurant owner where it happened wasn't involved at all, the one who sold the reservations wasn't in on the plot, he thought it was just someone who wanted to sit near Neia and perhaps get a chance to meet her. The one he sold the information to is an information broker who had no idea it was a murder plot… not that we should think she cared, but she didn't know. The desk clerk who directed you to her room didn't know anything much beyond where she stayed. We can probably rule out the chef who prepared the dish because…" She sighed and drummed her fingers on the table, "Well, the chefs in these high class establishments are exceedingly proud, there is just nothing to gain for them that they don't already have and the empire has benefited enormously from their ties to the Sorcerer King, so much so that Black Justice temples are found in every major city now. I just don't see a local fanatic in this, let alone someone who would destroy their reputation."

"Fair enough, I guess we'll be gentle with the waiter when we take him." Lakyus said softly.

"Not too gentle." Skana said, "He was still involved in something he surely should have known to avoid."

"Fine." CZ said, and stood up, followed quickly by Lakyus.

"One more thing before we go." Lakyus said, and Skana paused in mid step as she was about to leave.

"Yes?" Skana asked.

"I spoke with the Sorcerer King, after the Synod." She said, lowering her eyes apologetically. Skana and CZ looked at her uncertainly.

"I spoke to him about Neia." She clarified.

Skana's eye narrowed. "Explain."

Lakyus' eyes snapped up to Skana's single green eye. She briefly glanced at CZ, as if wondering if she should continue, but a firm small nod from Skana gave her permission to continue, CZ was a close companion and deeply trusted.

"Skana, she's not well. She almost drew a sword on me in the middle of the city, she's fraying, like walking on a knife's edge trying not to fall either way and cutting herself deeper with every step anyway." Lakyus held her hands open at her side, trying to convey the seriousness of the matter.

"I'm a priestess, even if I'm an apostate, it has been my life to bend an ear, and I'm telling you, no matter how bad you think it is in her head, its worse." She said.

"What did the Sorcerer King say?" Skana asked.

"We talked for a time on the matter, and he agrees she needs some time away, but there is no way Neia will stop or rest during the Synod. But if there is a 'reward' involved, if her time away is treated as a gift for some service, she might take it." Lakyus said hopefully.

"Find the killer." CZ suggested.

"Exactly." Lakyus replied. "Nobody in the Synod would object to a break from the process to deal with that."

Skana let out a heavy sigh. "I know my wife isn't well. I am still surprised to hear that she came that close to violence but… please understand, as much as she seems to open up, she takes a lot onto herself, and the losses have weighed on her. True they weigh on me too, but for her it is different. She got the worst of it, and because she was making the calls, she feels the greatest part of the guilt."

Lakyus nodded, "I understand, and I wouldn't say anything but… something has to be done."

Skana touched Lakyus's shoulder gently. "Thank you, for everything, I think I can speak for both Neia and myself when I say, it means a lot to us."

"Anytime." Lakyus said, touching that hand with her opposite one. "Oh, he did say one more thing. He said to notify him immediately if there was a sudden upsurge in her evident happiness."

"Strange. Why is that?" Skana asked with a tilt of her head.

Lakyus shrugged, "No idea. But I thought you both should hear it."

"He is never wrong." CZ said.

Skana let out a yawn, "I'm sorry, I still feel half dead, I know it isn't that late, but I'm going to bed. I'll remember what you said Lakyus, thanks again."

"You're welcome, CZ, will you join me, we've got a waiter to serve justice to." Lakyus said, prompting a groan from the departing Skana at the pun as the other two went out to meet Captain Strega.

Skana returned to the room to find that Neia was on the floor in the corner. She wasn't passed out, but she had obviously been drinking a fair bit, judging by the bottles that lay around quite empty. She began to remove her clothing. Skana was just about to speak when the swift warrior pope came close and pressed a kiss to her lips. "I missed you." She whispered.

Skana dropped her shirt away and broke the kiss to whisper the same in return. It was obvious what Neia wanted, perhaps needed, and though she still felt weak, the urgency of Neia's body was not lost on her. She was not averse to the touch of her beloved, and so off the clothing came, the lights went out and they tumbled beneath the sheets. Neia was in a frenzy, her fingers, lips, tongue, caressed her wife in every intimate place, but through it all, even through the pleasurable shivers she felt as Neia gave herself to her wife, Skana knew something was wrong, this wasn't how she was, it wasn't who she was. She thought back to Prart, she'd stumbled upon a young couple in a frenzied passion during the height of the siege, both soldiers, bits of armor and their weapons scattered about. They were people who were mating as if they were about to die.

That was what this felt like, but Skana, ironically given the circumstances, did not feel as if she were going to die. Not then, and not now. But that was how Neia felt to her in this moment, as a woman possessed by the certainty of her end. Skana reached down to where her lover was pressed, and grabbed for her and pulled her forcefully up, so that her one green eye was locked with the gaze of Neia Baraja. She kissed her, passionately, and locked her arms around the woman so that she couldn't easily get loose, she pulled her down, tight, holding her fast.

When the kiss broke and their breasts were pressed firmly to one another, Skana whispered softly to the heavily intoxicated Neia, "It's alright. I'm here, I'm not going to die, you're not going to die, everything is okay." She stroked Neia's golden hair at the back of her head, caressing her lovingly. Some part of it had cut through the drunken haze, and when Neia kissed her again, it was slower, easier, and the next two hours stretched on like an eternal bliss, until at last they relaxed and fell asleep or at least, Skana did.

Neia looked at Skana's sleeping face, it had been a frenzied lovemaking that had gradually become more tender, and it had left the still weakened woman exhausted. Good, that was what Neia wanted. She gently disentangled herself from her sleeping wife's arms, and slipped from beneath the sheets with the kind of stealth that few other than an elite scout could manage.

When she left the sheets, Neia stood up and looked down, she didn't have the dark vision of a demihuman, but her eyes were keen and accustomed to having far less light than this.

Skana moves slightly in the bed, her long strong legs were splayed out beautifully, and little murmurs that weren't quite words slipped out past her lips.

She was a stunning sight, and she'd nearly died. She 'had' died, but were it not for the quick actions of CZ to remove the poison before it could permeate her system, and were it not for the swift response of Lakyus to restore her, it might very well have been permanent.

She tried to imagine the resurrection, bringing her back just for her poison soaked organs to shut down again… Neia shook her head, it was horrible to contemplate.

She hugged herself and shook, not from cold, but from fear and inner pain tearing apart her mind. She wanted to embrace her wife again, to hold her, but so many she'd touched had been destroyed as a result. Gascon, Tiksin, countless elves... Illyana, and Skana seemed to be next on fate's list.

She walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. There was running water here, a rare luxury still, and she took advantage of it, the sound of it splashing down was interrupted by her hands cupping it into a pool, then splashing it on her face.

"Looks like I'll get one more, servant of evil." Neia heard the voice behind her and spun to confront its owner.

Remedios stood there, looking smug and satisfied. "I always knew you were poison, from the first time I met you, so did everyone else, you've always been poison, it's why everyone who follows you suffers or dies."

Remedios gave Neia a sick smile.

"You? You're dead..." Neia said breathlessly.

"Very. But not inside you, like the poison you slip into everyone around who gets too close, I'm part of you, and you'll never escape what you've done. She's next, you know it and I know it, and sooner or later, she'll know it, even if it is the last thing she ever learns. You're a burden and a poison."

"No..." Neia whispered in a broken voice.

"Yes." Remedios said. "This is how it will always be, there is no escape, not as long as you're alive, you're just going to keep hurting them, and from within and from beyond, I will watch and laugh at you. You'll even fail your own god, your little fit of temper hurt your cause I'll bet. One calls you a violent butcher, and you show him he's right by terrifying everybody." The shade laughed at her. "Putting you with the undead was the right choice, you'll destroy the chance at the status you're trying to get for him, and bring down everyone you love along the way. I couldn't ask for a better ending." Neia wanted to shout that the shade was wrong, but she didn't, her lips could barely part.

Neia's shaking grew worse, everything this… Shade? Illusion? Delusion? ...said, was true, there was only one end. She opened the door and looked out at the sleeping Skana, she'd had others in her heart before, Neia was sure she'd be okay.

She felt a lump rise in her throat and her lips quivered, not one iota of Neia's spirit wanted to be parted from her lover, her wife, the love of her life. But if that is what it took to save her from the poison she felt exuding from herself, like a heavy weight she seemed to carry with her… well, nobody had ever accused her of being hesitant in her choices. She did not doubt the love of her wife, but she would love again, she was strong. If they remained together, sooner or later, whether it be some old enemy or a new one, Skana would die for Neia's deeds. It was too unthinkable.

Her eyes fell on the belt hanging on the door, there was a knife there. A few minutes, and it would stop hurting inside, and she couldn't hurt anyone outside. A few minutes, and one small stinging sensation, then it would be over. She silently prayed for forgiveness from her god and took out the blade.

**AN: Well this was a pretty heavy chapter, a lot went in to it, I realize you're probably a little pissed off at the cliff hanger. But...you'll get a chapter soon. Of course I fully expect I'll catch some flack (again) for writing a favorite character this way, or for using such a dark subject in fanfiction. But...its a subject not often talked about or little understood, but I showed the symptoms as realistically as I could, and after all she's gone through, writing her as an emotionless machine just doesn't make a damn bit of sense. The suicidal are accused of being weak, or selfish, when the truth is, they're people in pain, and the decision to end a life is often set around the desire to NOT be a burden, NOT to hurt someone else, that is the opposite of selfish, even if it is misguided.**

**If you or someone you know is exhibiting some of the signs shown through Neia Baraja in this story, please know that there is help out there, all over the world, if your country is not listed below, hell, call somewhere else or seek help through online support venues (suicide counselors are available over internet chat systems)**

**Argentina: +5402234930430**

**Australia: 131114**

**Austria: 017133374**

**Belgium: 106**

**Bosnia & Herzegovina: 080 05 03 05**

**Botswana: 3911270**

**Brazil: 188 for the CVV National Association**

**Canada: 5147234000 (Montreal); 18662773553 (outside Montreal)**

**Croatia: 014833888**

**Denmark: +4570201201**

**Egypt: 7621602**

**Estonia: 3726558088; in Russian 3726555688**

**Finland: 010 195 202**

**France: 0145394000**

**Germany: 08001810771**

**Holland: 09000767**

**Hong Kong: +852 2382 0000**

**Hungary: 116123**

**India: 8888817666**

**Ireland: +4408457909090**

**Italy: 800860022**

**Japan: +810352869090**

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**New Zealand: 0800543354**

**Norway: +4781533300**

**Philippines: 028969191**

**Poland: 5270000**

**Portugal: 21 854 07 40/8 . 96 898 21 50**

**Russia: 0078202577577**

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**United Kingdom: 08457909090**

**USA: 18002738255**

**Veterans' Crisis Line: 1 800 273 8255/ text 838255**


	10. Good Day, Good Night

_...Arwintar..._

Lakyus and CZ did not take long, they followed Captain Strega where he led them. The light of the day was gone, but the streets were safe for all. Lamps lit with continual light enchantments glowed a gentle blue hue. It was a distinctive trait of Arwintar, the faint blue lights kept the beauty of the night while still allowing people to see their way from place to place without additional need for things like torches or enchanted lights of their own. Under other conditions, this might have been very charming.

However, for Lakyus and CZ, there was only their goal to think about. Commander Strega guided them with ease through his city's streets, his body tense with anticipation, it was a stark contrast to the ease of the two women behind him, who though they were ready, exhibited no signs of tension… just focus.

Soon they arrived in the housing district where most of the upper tier laborers lived. These were the people who worked at the finest of establishments, or personally served nobility in a household capacity, or were fine craftsmen with unique skills, high class brothels with the finest courtesans. In short, it was a sort of upper middle class, just below the nobility. Lakyus didn't expect the waiter to have a house of his own, but a very nice connected residence was very likely. She was not the least bit surprised when she turned out to be correct. Captain Strega raised his arm and pointed to a door. "There." He said.

CZ looked around, scanning the area. "Multiple inside."

Lakyus frowned slightly. "Disappointing. Are they asleep?" She asked.

CZ shook her head. "No."

"What are they doing?" Lakyus asked as she wondered if she could steal the target out early.

"Indeterminate. They appear to be climbing all over each other." CZ said abruptly.

Lakyus blushed strawberry red as the stone faced CZ essentially explained that the waiter was in the middle of an orgy. She sighed heavily. "I don't want to go in there."

"Nor I." CZ said with a faint note of distaste.

"Ladies, shall I?" Captain Strega asked, stepping forward.

"No." The two women said, glaring at him in unison, driving him to take a step back as the tone of their 'no' was one of rebuke.

"We wait then," he said.

They waited awhile, finally one by one, his 'guests' left his home, various women who probably did not work cheaply, walked out with sacks of coins clutched in their hands. Lakyus could hear the clinking, and CZ could clearly see what they were holding, it wasn't hard to work out the details from that. Six women left, and Lakyus said softly, "Even the best waiter at the most expensive restaurant can't afford that."

"No, no they can not." Captain Strega said with a hint of envy in his voice.

"He is alone." CZ said.

"Then let's go." Lakyus said and she took off at a dead sprint with CZ close behind. Lakyus was not inclined to be subtle this time, she drew her sword and slashed it in the pattern of an X, then smashed her way through. The crash was loud, and their target shouted with surprise, he hadn't had a chance… or perhaps had not intended, to dress himself after the ladies had left. He tried to scramble away, but CZ kicked him hard in his back and sent him stumbling to the floor, she put her foot down on his chest just as he rolled over and lowered her spell gun to point at his head. Lakyus held her sword out and put the tip under his chin. She crinkled her nose at the smell of the place, she just wanted out of there.

"Hi there. You don't know us, but you've seen us before, haven't you?" She asked. As his eyes took in their faces, his expression paled.

"That is a yes." CZ said 'helpfully'.

Lakyus rested one of her hands on her hip while her sword lifted against his chin slightly, forcing him to move to look further up.

"Yes, you know us. That leaves only a few questions, doesn't it? Can you guess what the first one is?" She asked. A nervous shaking of his head ensued.

"That question would be, just what do you think is going to happen to you, if you start telling lies when you start talking?" She said grimly.

She might have said more, but CZ raised a hand to interrupt her, the naked man was trembling underfoot.

"My master wants him." CZ said, answering the unspoken question on Lakyus's face.

Lakyus sheathed her sword.

"I hope you enjoyed that playtime you just had, because your night is going to get a whole lot worse from here on out." Lakyus said darkly.

She looked over to CZ, "Alright, I concede the prisoner, inform his majesty that we have found the one he wants, and we need only the gate to send him."

A few moments later, a gate opened, and CZ let her foot up, then grabbed him by the hair as he tried to rise and threw him screaming into the portal.

It closed behind him, leaving the two alone. Lakyus began to look around as soon as the gate closed. "Search for a bottle." She said to CZ without looking.

Understanding what she meant, CZ began the search immediately. The place was a 'bit' of a mess due to the evident activity of the last few hours, but it was clear that the 'former' owner had been quite fastidious the rest of the time. There were nice enough objects scattered around, his cooking area was neat and well organized, he had books on a shelf that suggested he liked to read, the books were mostly just popular fictions, nothing especially expensive, but there were a few of the classics to be found. His bedroom was dominated by a bed that took up a third of the room just by itself, but it felt wrong somehow.

It was CZ who pointed out just why. As she came in from behind Lakyus, she immediately pointed to the bed and said, "It's made."

Lakyus froze, it was, why was this room the only one nobody was screwing in? She became suspicious, and CZ evidently shared that suspicion because they began tearing the room apart, pulling open drawers and rifling through a wardrobe, and that was where CZ found it, buried in the back corner behind shoes and hanging clothing, she reached down and picked up a small ornate glass bottle, pink with gold inlay in a spiral leaf design and a small pump spray top.

"Found it." CZ said simply and held it up.

"If that isn't full of poison, I'll eat my sword." Lakyus said confidently.

"Finished?" CZ asked.

"Not yet, let's see if we can find anything else." Lakyus said, and their persistence was rewarded a few minutes later, when in the trash they found a letter dated several days earlier, detailing a desire to 'ruin' the restaurant of his former employer, and how to do it.

"Shit." Lakyus said.

"What?" CZ asked.

"He was a dupe too. According to this letter, if it is to be believed, he couldn't have known that he was actually playing the role of an assassin. Perhaps he should have thought more carefully, but in the end, he is just a former employee who made a really bad decision." Lakyus rubbed her forehead. "I guess we've got more to find. For now, though, rest. Anything he knows, the Sorcerer King will find out for us." She said.

"Fine." CZ answered, and they went out to Captain Strega, who had gathered the rest of his men together.

"Thank you for all your help." Lakyus said, "I will commend you to the emperor when next I see him, the waiter was our assassin, however… we don't think he knew he was an assassin. I still do not envy his interrogation, but he is not the end of the line. Your part in this however, is done for now." Lakyus said authoritatively.

"Ma'am, it was an honor, ma'am. Please convey our gratitude for the opportunity to help, and our well wishes to Commander Skana for her swift recovery and the restoration of her strength." Captain Strega said with a swift formal salute, one immediately imitated by the formation of soldiers that had formed up behind him.

"I will, you are dismissed." Lakyus said in her command voice, and the soldiers dispersed.

"Now rest?" CZ asked.

"Now rest." Lakyus answered with a yawn, and together they walked back to the hotel, evidence in hand.

_…Neia's Room…_

Neia held the knife in front of her, she was so drunk she could smell the alcohol on her own breath. She was ashamed. Ashamed of having lost Gascon, Tiksin, Illyana, ashamed of what happened to Tinamoc and Queen Calca. She couldn't look at her hands without seeing on them, the blood of those who trusted and followed her. Because of who she was, Skana had died in front of her. Her angry drawing upon the aura of her god might well have confirmed the image of her as just another bloodthirsty savage. Everything felt like it was falling apart around her and there was no way out and no way to atone.

"Putting you as a ranger and a scout kept a lot of people safe from your poison." The shade said mockingly.

"Shut up, you're not real." Neia said softly, not looking up from the knife.

"So what? I'm still right." The judgmental voice of Remedios said behind her, whispering into her ear. "You want it on some level don't you, to see it all burn down, maybe you'll get lucky and kill a kid next time, you love death, that is why you follow 'him'. Secretly, you know you deserve all this, for all your sins…"

Neia flipped the knife in her palm and snapped her arm back at the elbow, trying to stab behind her, it struck nothing but her own ear, and that only slightly.

"How long do you think before Skana gets too close at the wrong moment? Before you put an arrow in her throat because you can't tell the difference between an enemy and your own wife? If you're lucky, you'll terrify her so much she'll leave you before you kill her, all their worrying… it's a pit they'll climb down and never come out, because you're at the bottom of it." The voice whispered sweetly, almost lovingly, its every vile word, it was hypnotic and Neia couldn't tune it out.

She put her hands to her ears to cover them, her fist still clutching the knife and went down to her knees, curling forward. "Stop it! Please stop it!" She mewled out.

Remedios stood and snorted and then she was in front of Neia's curled up body.

"The truth hurts, but every time they show you how much they care, they draw close to their deaths, because remember, you're poison. The Sorcerer King's aura is deadly, and you barely snapped out of it twice when you drew on it, and you didn't even mean to. Your wife is going to be turned into a red paste, I wonder who else you'll kill? In the end, you'll be just like me, only you'll die alone because you… you destroy what you love." She snickered.

"No… No more, you're not real!" Neia slurred out, her fingers tore at the side of her head as if to dig the voice out. Claw like red streaks appeared on her skin, and three of her fingernails tore back, sending a sharp pain through her body, but she couldn't stop, she was even glad of the physical pain as it provided a very brief distraction from her own thoughts.

"Then you're just listening to yourself." Remedios said smugly, and then the (hallucination?) disappeared, leaving Neia whimpering out and letting choked gasps come out of her mouth.

She dropped her hands in front of her and rose from her curled position to a kneeling one, she touched the knife to her wrist, she knew how to do this, she'd ended enough lives, what was one more?

She heard a noise then and froze. It was the creaking of the bed. She jumped to her feet, put the dagger away and rushed to the sink as fast as she could. She turned on the water and began to rinse her face as fast as she could. The door opened right at that moment, Skana stood in the door frame, naked and beautiful.

"Neia, love what are you doing at this hour?" She asked with concern.

"Nothing, it's nothing, everything is fine, I'm fine." She said hurriedly. "It was just… nothing." She finished lamely.

"Are you sure?" asked Skana with a worried look on her face.

"Bad dream, I'll be fine." Neia said, putting on the winning smile that had charmed hard hearts and given confidence to the broken.

"Well, come back to bed, there's a big day tomorrow and you need your rest."

"Yes, rest… tomorrow…" Neia said numbly and Skana took Neia's arm over her shoulder and helped her back to bed. "A big day tomorrow…" She whispered as she drifted off, her entire body feeling nothing but exhaustion. Skana lay next to her and wrapped her arms around Neia's chest and pulled her close, her face nuzzled into Neia's hair, she raised her head up just enough to whisper into what she did not know was Neia's wounded ear, "I love you." She cuddled close, and Neia, unwilling to let her voice betray her thoughts, simply pretended to be asleep, and she bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed, wondering how she was going to get Skana killed.

When she did finally fall asleep herself, it was only a completion of the numbness that had already set in. She awoke the next morning to a cry of alarm. Her eyes snapped open like a taut bowstring and she rolled out of bed and grabbed for her weapon, her eyes already filled with battle fury and her killing intent unleashed. When she popped up into a combat stance with her sword out, she saw Skana standing on the other side of the bed and looking at her with horror.

"Neia what the hell happened to you?!" Skana shouted, and she jumped onto the bed and down to the other side where her wife stood. Neia dropped the sword and Skana grabbed her wrist. "Your fingers, your head, your ear?! How?! God, doesn't it hurt?!" She said in alarm, and Neia looked numbly at her injuries as Skana rushed to their dresser and pulled out a healing potion.

"Nothing, nothing happened, OK?" Neia said, "It was just an accident."

Skana thrust the potion out at her. "Drink." She said forcefully. Neia sighed, then tilted her head back and chugged the potion down. A moment later her injuries were gone.

"That was not an accident." Skana said bluntly, "You tell me what happened."

"None of your damn business!" Neia shouted, startling Skana so much that her one good eye went wide and locked with Neia's own. "I'm sorry…" She said, and put on her most charming smile, "Look it was just a nightmare that got out of hand, I'm OK now." She said, "I shouldn't have snapped at you, forgive me?" She smiled sweetly and took Skana's hand.

"Always." Skana said softly and drew her wife in to an embrace.

"I'm telling the truth; it was just a nightmare that got out of hand." Even as she spoke, Neia wasn't sure if she was really lying as much as she thought she was. However, she resolved it didn't really matter, Skana didn't need to know. "Tell you what," Neia said with a broad smile as she leaned back, "The Synod is supposed to continue today, but I'm going to make a motion that everybody have a day off, they've got to be as tired as I am or nearly, we can all go have a great day together, and return refreshed the following morning."

Skana grinned, "I'd like that." She said.

"Then it is settled, and if they refuse, well I'll tell them they can have it without me today, that ought to sway the holdouts, today it's just me, my wife, and some of my best friends." Neia said, "I could really use this.

"I think we could all, all do with that. I'm sure Lakyus and CZ had no trouble snagging that waiter, and he's probably being interrogated right now anyway, if the Sorcerer King had already gotten information, I'm sure we'd have heard about it already." Skana added.

"We're up early, so why don't we all grab breakfast together. Lakyus and CZ can update us, if there is anything to update us on, just as well over eggs, bacon, and tea as they can over nothing." Neia suggested, holding that smile on her face.

"You're just full of good ideas today." Skana said, as she went and drew a bath.

"You say that like it is unusual." Neia called out in a teasing voice.

"No, not really, but this is a damn sight better than that restaurant. Worst… cheesecake… ever." Skana said with a laugh.

Neia forced herself to imitate a laugh in return, that Skana could laugh about it spoke to her strength, but for Neia it was still raw, and she felt a rebuke even knowing there wasn't one. "You're poison. See, she knows it." The thought rose unbidden to her mind and she thrust it away as if it were an unwelcome touch by a stranger. She went and got out their garments for the day while Skana used the bathroom. Unbeknownst to her however, when the door closed behind her, Skana's trained eye noticed something odd.

As soon as the door shut, she saw it. The belt hanging on the door held her knives, and one of them was out of place. Trained soldiers always kept their gear in uniform positions, always in the same place, always the same way, that way in an emergency you'd never be fumbling and searching for what you needed. This particular knife was a baselard, her weapon of choice in sentry removal because of the ease of concealing it, its lightness, and its practical design. Skana always kept it in the rear most pouch, now it was one further to the left, she knew exactly who kept their own dagger in that position, and that person was in the bedroom just beyond the door. Skana struggled to come up with some explanation for what Neia might have been doing with her knife in the middle of the night, there was no good answer.

She chose for the moment however, to say nothing. She eased herself into the morning bath and contemplated what she'd seen.

"I'll ring for breakfast and have a 'join me' request sent to Lakyus and CZ to meet us in the same room downstairs in an hour." Neia called out.

"Alright." Skana replied, keeping the concern out of her voice as she washed up.

A few minutes later, Neia entered the bathroom and looked at her with an arch smile, she was almost a different person who had woken up suddenly less than half an hour before. Skana returned that look with a wink of her own thrown in for good measure, and Neia slid herself into the hot water. "Let me wash your back." Neia said softly, and Skana repositioned herself, and sighed with comfort as Neia began to diligently scrub. There was silence between them, and a rare tension. After a few minutes of scrubbing, an act that, between the two had always been something of intimacy, the cloth dropped and splashed into the water and Neia wrapped her arms around Skana. Some water splashed over the side of the large tub with the force of her forward momentum, and Skana felt Neia's small breasts pressed against her back, she felt her wife lean in, and a gentle whisper, "I wouldn't have used it on you. I love you."

For a moment Skana thought Neia might have meant the knife. Then she realized, no, Neia didn't realize Skana had observed the difference and figured out she'd drawn it last night, she relaxed, Neia was talking about the sword she'd snatched up when Skana awakened her suddenly.

Skana's hand folded over Neia's arm and she let herself lean back, "I know, you were just surprised, but to be fair, so was I. Do you want to talk about it?" Skana asked with concern in her voice.

"No." Neia said with a shake of her head, "Today I just want to be happy; I just want to enjoy everything and everyone." She said, emphasizing her meaning with a gentle nip at Skana's ear.

"We can." Skana replied, but need I remind you that you set a one hour meeting time for breakfast with Lakyus and CZ and we're halfway to that now, plus you actually have to 'go' to the Synod to propose the day off.

"Fair enough." Neia said reluctantly and they swiftly cleaned up, dressed, and went down to breakfast. Lakyus and CZ were already waiting for them, and the server was just bringing in the food, piping hot plates in fact. They were laid in front of each of the four women and a server following behind that one walked around her and began pouring a cup of tea and a cup of juice for each of them.

When the attending servers made their way quietly out and the door was closed behind them, Neia raised her cup and said, "To safer tomorrows." They clinked their cups to hers and echoed the sentiment.

That out of the way, they began to eat, Neia seemed to be herself again. She smiled, she laughed, she told jokes… very badly. When Lakyus got to the part about the orgy they'd waited out, when telling the story of the waiter's capture, she snorted and said, "He thought he was coming, but it turned out he was also going."

"What?" She said with a grin as two and a half pairs of eyes rolled at her attempt at humor.

"I love you, but I wish I had both eyes so I could roll them twice as hard." Skana said with a laugh.

"That reminds me," Lakyus said, "have you considered trying to have your eye healed again? I seem to recall that the weapon used on you had its effect canceled by death, so if we use a strong enough healing spell, even if a low tier one isn't enough, it might come back."

Skana finished chewing the biscuit she'd just bitten into and set the remainder down on her plate before folding her hands one over the other. "I won't say it hasn't crossed my mind, but honestly… if I hadn't lost my eye, I might not have found my wife, so I haven't minded going without it. Plus, I'm so well known 'without' this one, that people might not even recognize me anymore. I guess you could say I'm happy how I am, so why change it? With the war over I don't have to worry about combat effectiveness the way I used to, and even if I did, well I'm still fine with my sword."

"I see." Lakyus said, using her biscuit to soak up some gravy. "Well, I'm not one to rain on other people's happiness."

"Nor I." Neia said, touching Skana's hand.

"Nor I." Said CZ. "Plus, cute." She said and put a sticker on Skana's eyepatch.

"And…I admit, I'd miss the stickers." Skana said with a grin.

While the meal seemed quite normal, and in many respects, it was, underlying the contented and positive mood was the watchful eye of the adamantite adventurer, she kept a careful eye on Neia, who seemed happier than she had in all the time Lakyus had known her. Their close association was born of conflict and serious situations, and the firm steel gaze that brought the violent to trembling was never far from even the cordial Neia's face. More than once she'd tried to imagine what she might have been, must have been, like in other situations, and she could never quite picture her differently than she appeared.

This was a glimpse at that, her eyes might still have their criminal appearance, that which helped to make her famous, but they had warmth in them at the moment. Her horrible jokes aside, well it was humor, and she seemed more 'her own size' which was short, rather than the towering figure she seemed to be when she called on the powers of her voice to sway or terrify.

The warning of the Sorcerer King loomed large in her mind. If she appears happy, tell him immediately. Skana knew of the warning too, but if she was concerned, she gave no sign. The nature of the order was still unclear, happiness was good, happiness was desirable, happiness meant things were getting better. Why then should she be concerned.

She turned the thought over and over in her mind until Neia wiped her mouth with a cloth and stood up. "I've got to go to the Synod, why don't you all wait here? I won't be long; I'm going to request a vote that everybody disperse for a day. I don't think they'll object. You saw the same thing, didn't you Lakyus? They're tired."

"Yes, I agree." Lakyus said, thinking more of Neia than the other priests and priestesses.

"Then this should be brief." Neia added.

"Well, I will need to be there to cast my vote, I know you could do it for me, but I should do it myself." Lakyus said, "It might raise questions if the pope of Black Justice is casting votes for a priestess of the water god, even if I am privately an apostate, that isn't exactly widely known."

"Fair enough." Neia said, "Will you walk with me, or do you wish to finish up first?"

Lakyus looked forlornly down at her tea, "I'll catch up, I just want to finish this cup."

"Alright." Neia said and walked out with a smile and a wave, "I'll walk slow, don't tire yourself out trying to catch me." She teased the powerful adventurer.

Lakyus chuckled and resumed drinking. When Neia was well and truly gone, Lakyus spoke her mind. "This is what he warned me about."

Skana frowned. "I just don't see a problem, I want my wife to be happy, OK she had a bad dream, she had a… very bad night while I slept, but she seems fine now."

"That is what concerns me." Lakyus said, "The Sorcerer King said to inform him if we saw Neia appear to be happy quite suddenly. So… this fits."

"He is never wrong." CZ repeated, her flat voice having the faintest emphasis on her words.

Skana looked down at her plate in thought, as if the answer lay in the remnants of the hearty breakfast. "Fine. I trust you, and I trust CZ, and I trust the will of my god. Perhaps I just can't see what he does. Go ahead, tell him."

The response was swift and Lakyus informed the pair of what the Sorcerer King had said. "An observer will be monitoring her for the day, for now, just make it a good one."

Lakyus was easily able to catch up to Neia, and they chatted idly about how to spend the nearly inevitable day off, it had been well and truly earned as far as both of them were concerned, and they were rightly confident that priests and priestesses who had traveled from across the land, from as far away as the Southern Holy Kingdom, would jump at the chance to experience Arwintar for themselves for a day.

When they reached the tower, things came to order in the usual way, and Neia laid out her proposal in simple, articulate terms. Lakyus marveled at the simplicity of the approach. Emotions had run high, this was the first such gathering in the history of service to the divine. Clear heads were needed and fevered minds were a disservice to any god. She remarked on her appreciation for their hearing her out, no matter their beliefs, and she threw in a remark that, for many, this would be the only time in their lives that they would see Arwintar. While the weather was fine and they still had the energy of the morning, they should take the day and see to their ease and relaxation and return refreshed the following day.

As many had felt the strain of such a prolonged academic exercise, this was not an unwelcome proposal, they even went one further, and proposed two days rest, the first for relaxation, the second for reflection. Neia looked up to where Lakyus sat and they shared a knowing look, they were not the only ones to do so, many shared the same thought, that some of these priests and priestesses of god did not want to attend the Synod with hangovers, and there were a lot of hangovers already planned at the notion of a day of rest.

Lakyus endorsed the notion, and a vote quickly passed, allowing them to filter out, and for the first time for the duration of the landmark event, Neia saw grateful expressions on the faces of those who had often grilled her the most harshly.

Neia and Lakyus were the last to file out, and when they did so, Lakyus asked her, "What did you want to do with the day?"

The happy expression on the diminutive pope seemed wholly out of place, yet it was clearly quite sincere, "I'd like to beg a favor from the Sorcerer King, that he allow us to visit Nazarick and enjoy a day there, and… I have not seen him in quite some time, I'd like to do so one more time."

Lakyus pretended very hard not to notice the odd way she said that, as if there was only one more chance, but endorsed the idea happily. "I couldn't imagine a better vacation spot. I'm sure he'll permit it, after all, he values you."

When they returned to the others, the proposal of a request to visit Nazarick was quickly accepted, dispatched, and accepted. A gate opened and through it stepped a pretty blond peasant girl. "Hiya, it's been awhile hasn't it?" She said with her big toothy smile.

"Vanysa, it's a pleasure." Lakyus said and held out her hand. Vanysa took it with her customary enthusiasm and shook it vigorously.

She smiled broadly at the rest of the group, who made their own greetings in turn. "His majesty says yah get the works, spa, baths, sauna, ocean, meals, and so on."

"CZ could take us through all this, couldn't she?" Neia asked curiously.

"Yeah, but he says since she's s'posed to have fun too, that someone else should do the leg work of takin' yah through stuff, so I volunteered." Vanysa said and gestured to the gate she'd stepped out of.

When they were through the gate and standing on a lake shore a few feet away from a laid out picnic spot, Lakyus asked, "Oh, why is that?"

"Cause yer doin' somethin great, this way I can say mah thanks, so ahm at yer service all day." Vanysa said and she gave an exaggerated kind of curtsy before giving a titter of laughter.

So the day went, with wine and treats and all manner of delights, a brief request of Vanysa and a few minutes later they had music to dance to, they sang various drinking songs…though in the case of CZ even with her intoxication protocol active, it was somewhat flat. They went from lake front picnic to the illusory artificial ocean to enjoy the waves, and from there to a theater to see the unimaginable, moving pictures that told a story, much of it was confusing, but something called 'The Lord of the Rings' resonated powerfully with the party. The meals were sumptuous and the desserts divine, and eventually Lakyus and Skana both passed out and CZ allowed her intoxication protocol to overload and she imitated the other two, leaving Neia alone with their volunteer attendant.

Neia was, in a word, drunk. In two words, she was quite drunk. Vanysa however, had not touched a drop. Alone together back by the lake where they'd begun, she asked the woman, "How do you keep it together?"

Vanysa lost her bubbly air and her eyes took on a serious expression. "I didn't." As quickly as it vanished, Vanysa's bubbly happy expression was restored.

The fury turned and began to skip away towards the water nearby, as Neia shouted out, "Can I ask to see… Ainz? I'm sure he's busy, but I want to give him my gratitude personally if possible."

"Aye! Of course, part'a his instruction was thatcha get to see him when yer ready, he said he'd be in the library mosta the day doin' some readin'."

"Can you guide me?" Neia asked, "I don't quite know the way, it's been awhile."

"Course ah can!" Vanysa said, "Ahm atcher service!"

A few minutes after walking through a [Gate] to reach the 10th floor, Neia fell to one knee in front of her god and lowered her head deferentially. Ainz set aside the thick book he was reading, marking the page and turning to her, he stood up and approached, he seemed so tall, so massive and powerful, he exuded royal power and presence, he was the incarnation of justice and divinity, and given permission to raise her head, she looked at him with eyes shining with happy tears.

"Your majesty." Neia said softly, "A… Ainz." She rarely called him that, despite having permission for years, she only felt right doing so when they were either alone, or very nearly so, it seemed disrespectful to her god to be so familiar, even if she did feel him to be as a father to her.

"Neia, I hope you've had a wonderful time here in my home." He said and touched her shoulder. She felt the warmth of his skeletal hand, how like a living being, how firm and strong, it was enchanting to her.

"I have, your… Ainz." She corrected herself and smiled. "I realize you must be very busy, but I wanted to come say thank you for everything, everything you've ever done to make our lives better, for your forgiveness for my failures, for my weaknesses, for giving everyone I love a future. You mean so much to me my lord, I couldn't let another day pass without having said it."

"Of course." He said quietly, "You have done a great deal for my cause, and while I know it has been very difficult, know that when you are ready, there is a place reserved for you to recover, taking all the time you need, even if it be the rest of your life."

Neia's eyes welled up, other than her wife, no one since her father had spoken to her with such concern, it wasn't the first time he had done so, but it meant every bit as much to her now, as it did then. It solidified her private decision, she could not become a liability to his cause, in her end, she might become a kind of martyr, a boon to him if the story was told well, alive, if she made another mistake, who knows what might happen, or to whom?

They spoke privately for a few minutes more, and the Sorcerer King sought details about her intentions for the future after the Synod, which Neia answered by talking about the world rather than herself. Finally, she felt it was time. "May I hug you, Ainz?" She asked softly.

"Of course." He said in the noble voice that awed her heart every time she heard it, she stood, approached, and wrapped her arms around him, feeling an almost parental warmth, and then she stepped back. "Thank you, thank you for everything." She said again, "I need to go back to the hotel for a bit, but could I ask something else, sire?"

"Go ahead." He replied curiously.

"If you don't want your bow back, could I ask that you give it to Skana later, it may be possible to heal her eye now, and I think she'll prove better at the bow than she thinks." Neia asked with a very happy grin on her face.

Alarm bells rang in Ainz's head as he gave a noncommittal answer and opened the gate for Neia to return to her room.

She bowed deeply and stepped through the gate and found herself at the hotel entry. She approached the front desk and asked that someone bring fresh towels to her bathroom in an hour. She felt bad for the person who would find her, but better it be someone to whom she meant nothing, than it be a loved one like Skana or one of her friends. She briefly stopped by their improvised investigative headquarters and snatched up the bottle containing the poison that had killed her wife. It was a very beautiful bottle, containing a very ugly death within it. It would serve her purposes. She tucked it away and headed to her quarters.

She entered the room she shared with her wife and looked around. There was a bottle of wine still out, she took it up and drank it down without letting the mouth of it leave her lips and then she set it aside. "Well," she said to the empty room, "I got what I wanted, one more good day, least I didn't poison it."

The back of her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, the voice telling her this was for the best, that if she were alive she'd be a burden at best and a danger at worst, thrummed loud as a war drum in her ears, she thought of the kid she'd knocked over in the street, she thought about having almost drawn her sword on Lakyus, she thought of Skana waking up to find how she'd mutilated herself the night before and the horror on her face, she struggled to think of one other option, and found none. She closed the bathroom door and took out the poison vial they'd retrieved from the waiter. If it went well, the world would assume she'd been assassinated successfully.

She held it up to her face, closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and prepared to spray it inside. Just as she was doing so, the thought ran through her mind, "I don't want to die." But it was too late, her fingers were already closing, and the poison thrust up through the pump, and the earthy flavor Skana described hit her tongue. In an almost humorous moment, she thought, "Probably better with cheesecake."

Her body began to spasm and seize up, she fell to the floor, thrashing, her mind was clear but had no control over any part of it. She felt her mouth start to foam and her feeling fade from her.

"No…" she thought, and that thought continued to run through her head as fast as the poison raced through her body. "Oh god, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die. What the hell did I just do..." She thought to herself as she set aside the perfume. She tried to leave the bathroom, but found the dose was too high, she was already seizing up, her body was shaking, she felt the foam forming at her mouth.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." She tried to say, unsure of who she should apologize to the most as her body flailed helplessly. She heard the door open and feminine footsteps fall on the floor, her eyes were closing, she wondered who it was, she fervently hoped it wasn't Skana.

Blackness. Inky, dark.

"So, this is what I did." She thought to herself as she remembered a phrase that would haunt her forever. "Aim for the kids..." She heard voices and saw a bright light. She'd heard stories about this, a long tunnel, a bright light, all she had to do was go towards it and she'd be at peace. The voices were obscured, she didn't know who it was. "Mother... Father...?" She tried to say, and her eyes started to open.

"I'm not your mother, little dead girl." Lupusregina said with a grin as the healing light of her magic faded from her hand. "But maybe this one can pass for a father?" She gestured her thumb towards CZ and started to laugh.

Neia looked up at them, profoundly confused, only to see CZ kneel down in front of her, yank her up, and hug her.

"Too close," she said.

**AN: Well another chapter done, and a very close call for Neia. Now, a few things that need to be said here. Neia's behavior follows the signs and symptoms of the suicidal. Not just in her early sexual frenzy, not just in the alcohol consumption, but also a number of other features shown. Giving away dearly held goods, a sudden reversal of previous depression that has resulted from a decision to die, because they know their pain is about to end, everything she does, including the certitude that people would be better off without her, either safer or otherwise. So, again, if you know anyone behaving like this, ask how they are, see if you can get them to seek help, to many people suffer needlessly. Oh and incidentally, according to most studies, those who survive suicide attempts report that the last thought they had before it was to late to stop the attempt from going forward was, 'I don't want to die', so just something to keep in mind if you yourself are on the edge. **

**Now, another thing, writing these last few chapters has taken a bit of a mental toll on me, and I'm a bit drained, so I hope you'll forgive me if I take a break from the serious stuff for a little while and write some more humorous pieces, for example I'd like to get back to 'Bone Daddy's Daughters' and I had an Albedo/Shalltear comedy in mind that I wanted to try my hand at. I won't be long, I bounce back quickly, then it will be back to God Rising. (Though I 'might' slow that one down just a little bit just to piss off that one nasty little guest reviewer who keeps complaining, I know the rest of you are OK with a little wait, especially if it frustrates a choosing beggar who does nothing but complain). Unrelated note, my current outline for God Rising is 123 chapters long and…I underestimated, looks like it might actually need to be between 140 and 150. So you've got a lot to look forward to. **

**I've written a few sneak preview pieces for pending chapters, and if you wanted to get a look at those, you'll need to stop by my Discord server, invite is on the author page. Also if you'd like to support me on P atreon, you may do so at P atreon dot com slash godrising. Money goes to putting the story together as a free audiobook, any overage will go to charity. **

**That's all, thanks for reading!**


	11. Clawing Out of the Abyss

CZ's affection was always light in nature. She expressed herself only in one or two words and a few gestures, it took time to get to know her to recognize the subtleties of her feelings, and the depth that could lay beneath an outwardly indifferent surface. She was an ever placid lake, calm to the eye from one standing on the shore, but swim beneath the surface and you would find that she was teeming with a rich inner life, a deep well of emotion reserved for only a precious, precious few.

In all the time she'd known her, Neia could scarcely think of an occasion when physical affection had passed between them, despite considering each other to be among the best of friends.

That made CZ's hug even more impactful. The maid demon didn't break the embrace entirely, though she squeezed hard enough that if Neia had been a weaker person, some bones might have cracked a bit. She did, however, pull back from it while keeping her hands on Neia's shoulders. "Don't." She ordered.

Neia's face was mute and numb, her jaw had fallen open, foam still dripped from it and her normally narrow, dangerous eyes were wide with horror at what she'd done and what had nearly happened to her. Her face began to crack, and quiver and tears welled up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I just wanted it to end, I just wanted to stop hurting, I didn't want to get anyone else hurt anymore… I'm poison… I didn't want anyone…" Her voice was shaking as she let it out and her eyes clouded over, CZ stopped her from speaking by placing one finger over her lips.

"Friend. Not poison." CZ said in her quiet subtle monotone.

Neia looked around as the reality of what just happened hit home, she wanted to say something else, but the question suddenly came to her… "Wait, why are you two here?" She asked as confusion temporarily replaced all other emotion.

"Why are you still sitting on the floor?" Lupusregina said as her hand fell back to her side, "You didn't die you know, though it was a close thing, thanks to my amazing skills as a cleric, you're healthy as ever. -su" She said with a wide full grin as she put her hand to her chest, touting her skills.

"Oh, ah, yes." Neia said, and as CZ stood up, she held out a hand to Neia, who grasped it and accepted the pull that brought her to her feet.

"Now, about how you two came to be here?" She asked as she went to a nearby chair, her body still trembled and shook like a leaf in a summer breeze.

"Lord Ainz said this might happen, soooo, he had me follow yah. -su." Lupusregina said proudly.

"He is never wrong." CZ said succinctly.

Neia's face was pale at their words. "He- he knew? No… please tell me it was some other way… I can't bear the shame…" Her voice was soft, broken. She put her elbows on the table beside her, then lowered her face into her upright arms. "My god expected me to fail him… how low can I fall, that I'm expected to be weak? I don't want to know that, I don't want to know that…" She said in an almost childlike whimper.

"Lord Ainz wants to see you." Lupusregina said flatly, and a moment later the gate opened nearby. "He said he'd open that as soon as you could move, you can move, so… don't keep him waiting." She said, her voice somewhat softer, but no less 'instructive' than it customarily was.

Neia stood up and looked over at the two maid demons who had saved her life. "Thank you," she said, wiping her face and her mouth clean, "I'd better go face whatever I have to over there, ugh, I'm a mess. Please though, don't… don't tell Skana or the others."

CZ nodded, Lupusregina shrugged, and Neia stepped through the gate.

She found herself somewhere quite unexpected. She had thought to find herself in Nazarick, instead she found herself not far from Prart, her single largest, though not her last, clash. She was not at the gates or within the city, instead she was to the west of it, in front of a very familiar tree on a low hill.

She looked around for the Sorcerer King, but her eyes lingered on Illyana's grave for a long moment, and while her gaze lingered her search ended.

"This is where she was buried, isn't it?" The Sorcerer King asked softly from behind her. "You picked a beautiful place to lay her to rest."

Neia whirled and fell forward towards him, she did not kneel, she prostrated herself, the way those who were the most deeply grateful, or the most desperately lowly, put themselves before their benefactors or their betters, a posture of absolute supplication.

Ainz didn't say anything.

The silence stretched out, his black robes flapping softly in the breeze, the rustle of the leaves and branches of Illyana's tree, these were the only sounds to fight the silence. It took a moment for Neia to realize he'd asked her a question.

"Y-yes, sire," she said nervously. She held her position, he hadn't told her to rise, and the truth was, she didn't want to rise, from this posture he couldn't see that the eyes that had brought down terror on the mighty were shut like a dam holding back a sea of tears that she feared would drown her if she let herself fall into them.

She was shaking from her position, but she otherwise did not move as he walked past her, she could see his skeletal feet were bare under his robe, unusual for him, but now was not the time to ask. He approached and touched the gravestone.

She could hear the click of his bones on the stone, it was those little gestures that endeared him strongly to her, they seemed so very human, made him an exception almost from the beginning to how she saw the undead.

She wondered what he was thinking.

"Stand up, Neia." He said.

She was used to obeying him after years of service, it was as natural as breathing. She slowly stood, but she didn't turn around.

"Look at me." He said, standing beside the gravestone, resting his hand gently on it.

"Please…" Neia said, her head was hanging low as if she was looking at the ground, but she didn't want to open her eyes, she kept her back to him, fighting her instinct to follow his command.

"Would you turn your back on me, Neia?" He asked softly.

She shook her head back and forth in a vigorous denial.

"Then why is your back to me still?" He asked.

"I can't bear to look and I can't bear to be seen." She said, cracks appearing in her inflection.

"Because?" He asked her back.

"Because of what I did, tried to do, almost accomplished," she said with her fists clenched and shaking at her sides.

She heard him move slowly, the scrape of his bones like a knife as his hand moved over the surface of the grave marker, then lifted from the stone.

"That is why you must." He said.

She slowly turned around to face where he stood, but she kept her eyes closed.

"Open them, I promise it will be alright." Ainz said.

She forced her eyes to open, ever so slowly, and she saw him standing there with open arms.

"Come here." He said, and the dam burst. She rushed forward with the same urgency she had used previously when striving to kill Remedios Custodio, but this was more like desperately swimming towards driftwood to avoid being carried beneath the waters that were bound to consume her.

She fell into his embrace. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said over and over again, more times than she thought she could. What she had gurgled out through foam and futility in what had been meant to be her final moments she could now say clearly. At least for a moment, before they were choked out with sobs and snot and hiccups.

Ainz towered over her, but when he spoke this time, he put just enough space between them to get down on her level. To many others, to see the blank skeletal face and the burning red orbs would have been a moment of terror, but to Neia, it was like looking into the face of a father.

"What are you sorry for?" He asked her.

"Where do I even begin?" She whimpered softly, looking down as she stroked his magnificent robe. Her eyes shot up, "I tried… I tried so hard… I thought, I thought that if I could just hold on, be what I was supposed to be that I could be a bottomless vessel of strength. That I could bring everything to the way it was supposed to be!" Her voice began to rise, her caress ended and she stared madly down at her hands.

"Instead I almost killed my own wife! Not once, but twice! Bad enough she died once already because of her closeness to me! But I drew a sword on her! I took a blade and pointed it at her! HER! Only one small difference and I might have cut her open! What about the next time? What then? Will I not see who she is until she's a corpse?! I'm a danger to everyone around me, like HER!" She wailed and banged her head on the Sorcerer King's unmoving chest. There was no need to say who the 'her' was. Ainz knew how she felt about the late Remedios and the terrible realization about how similar they could be to one another.

"I almost shot a little boy in the street when he ran into me! I poisoned everything! Tinamoc will never speak again! Illyana died because I promised her freedom! Tiksin, the first person I thought I had truly saved from the depths of personal oblivion, ended up an inquisitor's prey! Gascon died because I was too stupid to think to assign him guards! Calca trusted me, and now she winces every time she sees her own face in the mirror! And that is without all the people who have died, so many… many others. The other elves of Wenmark, the Blood Miners, the Vines, so many of my loyal soldiers!"

Her little hands balled up into fists and she began to pound on him in frustration, her eyes went shut tight against the world and she pressed her head hard enough against his chest that it hurt.

"I tore my own body apart… I tried to dig the voice…her voice… out of my head, I ripped apart my nails, tore up my skull, sliced my ear attempting to stab a vision of someone dead and gone! I did all of that, with my wife asleep in the very next room… I almost ended everything that night. I stole one of her blades, and she might have found my corpse in the morning if… if she hadn't woken up. Then I lied to her, slept next to her, and screamed at her in rage the next morning when she just did what she was supposed to do, worry about my injuries, and I lied to her AGAIN!" Her voice was so rapid that Ainz could barely follow it, he didn't say anything, he just let her speak.

"I tried to be the vessel of strength you needed, I tried so… damn… hard! But I'm empty! There's nothing left in me at all but poison and it's killing me! And if it doesn't kill me, it'll kill someone else! How long before another assassin targets me and gets my wife? Or targets her just for spite! I drink to forget, as if the wine will fill the void! And when that doesn't work, I turn to sex, it is a frenzy with her, but not for my pleasure or even for hers, but just to let that emptiness go away for a little while!" She stopped pounding against his chest and grabbed his robe and gazed up at him as if it were a lifeline and he was pulling her up with it.

"Then perhaps worst of all I compounded all that and I might have failed you! I stood before the Synod, someone provoked me… and I… I called upon your power without meaning to. In my stupid empty rage… god I could have crushed them into jelly, all of them, even those who support you! Lakyus was there! What if I had killed her too?! I don't know how to live with myself anymore, the nightmares when I'm asleep, numbness, emptiness, and miserable pain when I'm awake, and surrounded by people who I'll destroy… because I'm poison. It's all that is left, a residue of something toxic in an empty vessel, cracked and broken. You'd be wiser to throw me away! What good is an empty, broken shell… and… and… and...?" She finally trailed off, her eyes opened up to look at the shimmering black robe of her divine god. All there was, was the sound of a war hero, a living legend, a dragon rider who could call upon the aura of her lord, the black paladin, Neia Baraja, weeping as if she were a child again.

She began again after a little while, "I don't want to die…" She whispered softly. "I know that now…that was my last thought before I was saved…I just don't see another way, I'm lost… just so lost, like I've fallen from a cliff and I don't know when I'll hit bottom."

She looked up at him with eyes more like that of a frightened kitten or puppy than the woman who struck terror into armies. "Majesty, tell me…" She said, "How did you know? How did you know what I was planning? Have I been so weak for so long…" Whatever she was going to say beyond that was cut off by finger bones at her lips.

He could see in her eyes how the question burned, there was no choice but to answer.

"In the world I come from, the place my servants have come to call the 'First World' many terrible things happened, I told you about that, didn't I?" He asked.

She nodded earnestly.

"The needs of the injured in mind as much as in body, were plentiful, and our finest minds turned their resources to studying the human mind. In the course of this, discoveries were made about human behavior, and one of those discoveries was that when someone was in enough pain, the decision to die brought happiness. So, knowing this, I told the others to watch over you. If you appeared to be suddenly happy after everything, I was to be notified. When word was passed to me of your sudden change of mood, it was trivially easy to realize your intent, therefore I had CZ and Lupusregina dispatched to tail you." He said calmly.

Neia's eyes were still pouring, her lip was quivering, she wanted to speak, but his finger was still over her lips.

"That however, is a minor matter, what is important is this… Neia, never in all the time I have known you have I ever considered you to be weak, nor do I think you are weak now. You've just tried to be strong for far too long." He said, and she gave him a fragile smile and clasped the hand whose finger covered her lips. "I should have given you a reprieve during the war, or sent someone to help you along the way, instead I put so much more on your shoulders…and this is the result. I owe you a great debt." He said and bowed his head.

"Sire…no… I… please don't bow your head to your servant." She said in a frail voice that reminded him of his nervous little dark elf child.

He sighed, "Very well, but know that I will repay that debt no matter what." He answered.

Her face turned briefly thoughtful and she asked, "Sire, if I am not weak, then am I insane?" She asked as his hand moved back.

Ainz contemplated that a moment, and how best to answer it, and he quickly hit upon an answer. "I spoke with my servant, Vanysa, after you left. She told me what you asked her." Ainz began.

Neia looked surprised, but he continued. "There was more to her answer, but before she could give it, you asked to see me. I'd like to let her answer now, if you'll hear it." He said, Neia only nodded slightly in reply.

A moment later she heard the bouncy, crystal belled voice of a familiar servant.

"You called for me, sire?" She asked.

"Go ahead Neia, ask her again." He said.

"How did you keep it together?" Neia asked her.

"I didn't." She replied as she approached in small steps with her hands folded in front of her. "After I was captured and tortured, I knew I wasn't going to make it, nobody knew where I was, nobody would miss me around my neighborhood… I'd lost my shop and everything I'd worked for a long time before that, I was just a nothing bound to die in the gutter, only I was getting tortured to death instead."

She smiled a little winsomely, "Master would have cared, but I was so ashamed of losing his reward and failing at my ambition, that I didn't reach out for help when I needed it. If I had, I doubt I would have been taken for long. But I didn't, so Astraka got me, and then I didn't think I could keep taking the pain, so I beat him in the only way I could, I killed myself. When his majesty revived me I had blocked it all out, weeks of memories I didn't want to see again, and when it came back, I felt it all over again as if it was fresh, and my mind is never going to be the same."

Vanysa shook her head and knelt next to Neia. "The truth is, you did better than I did, by leaps and bounds, I'm as… well, healthy as I am, because I've had constant nonstop care provided to me by our lord. I am treated as what they call an 'outpatient' at a place I'm sure you've heard of, called 'Illyana's House', that means I can come and go, and when I go there, I am given all the care and support I need. In Nazarick, Demi is so patient with me, so kind and gentle when I'm frozen in place reliving something… and the lord we all share gives me all the space I need to function. I'll never be the same girl I was before the beastmen came, and killed the man I loved, or even the girl I was when King Astraka took me and… did the things he did. But I'm learning to live again!"

She reached out and clasped Neia's hands in her own. "It isn't over, not as long as I'm alive, not as long as there are people who are willing to help me, love me, support me. I don't have to do everything alone, and the truth is nobody ever really does, whatever those stupid stories say about impossible do everything and feel nothing heroes!" She snorted in contempt and spat on the grass.

"Even our god leans upon us, he calls upon us to labor for his cause! If he sees no weakness in having us support him, how can we who serve him, call ourselves weak for wanting the same?!" She was speaking furtively, rushing her words but Neia didn't miss a single syllable.

"Just because everything can't be exactly as it was, doesn't mean there isn't a future, get the help you need, and set an example by doing so for all your people as much as for yourself. It isn't shameful to need an army to fight a war, or a cleric to heal a scar, or even a team to build a house, you won't be weak for needing a few people who understand, to help you heal your mind. I learned to live again, to cope, and yes, some days are harder than others, but you aren't poison! I admit I don't know you as well as CZ or Lakyus or Tinamoc, but I'm an Erinyes, a Fury, and I can say with certainty that the guilt you're holding in isn't nearly as much as you think it is. I know that if you were as toxic as you think you are, then they'd have done something other than try to help you. Let them do for you what you would do for them, let yourself seek the help you need." She said urgently, squeezing the clasped hands of the diminutive pope.

"But… the Synod… I need to finish, or it is all for nothing! His majesty must be recognized as the god he is!" She said with desperate fervor.

"Neia…" Ainz asked seriously, "Have I ever told you anything about faiths of the place they call 'First World'?"

"No sire, truth be told I never even thought to ask about it…" She replied.

"In the first world, there were many different gods followed by many different people all over its lands. People prayed for good harvests…and when the harvests failed, they blamed themselves, or pinned it upon scapegoats who had done nothing. People prayed for an end to sickness and watched their children wither and die. People called on their gods for victory in war, only to see their lands overrun. People called for salvation, and the great salt sea roared in on one of the holiest of days and killed vast numbers. People begged the lightning not to strike their houses of worship, only for them to be burned down when the lightning struck anyway. People attributed many things to these gods, even absurd things like helping to find lost keys, to starting a machine that cleaned clothes. Whenever they wished for something good and it happened, many people claimed it was the work of the divine. Whenever something bad happened, they said their favorite deity was mysterious, or their answer to the call for aid was a no because it had some other plan. But in all this, it seemed the same as if none of their deities were real, and things happened or didn't happen simply by way of either human intervention or chance and nature at work." He shook his head.

"Those were do nothing gods. If they were real at all, they routinely abandoned those who loved them most to suffer and die, or they abandoned the weak and the innocent to suffer evils they might sometimes have been too small to even understand. The same way the Six Gods responded when their altars were turned into dinner tables on which their worshipers and their children were consumed." He covered the pair of cupped hands with his own large skeletal finger bones.

"Would you have me be such a god? To do nothing as my followers tear apart their own flesh in pain? If I AM that sort of god, then I do not DESERVE the title! I would sooner abandon it than abandon those who serve my will! If this world is made into the heaven in life people long to reach after death, then I am god enough, and where my will resides in every heart and mind, there my divinity is also found! This 'Synod' will no more make me a god than it will deny me the position! They're a gaggle of people making a bureaucratic decision that does not change anything about who or what I truly am. If I am to be called a god, then they will speak only for themselves, as others will deny it. If I am not to be called a god in their eyes, then they will again speak only for themselves while those who follow me will continue to proclaim it! What are countless voices raised in hollow devotion, compared to the true loyalty I am shown by you and those like you!" Ainz asked, wiping a tear away that hadn't made it all the way down her cheek yet.

"Let Skana or Lakyus or myself speak, don't carry this burden alone. Do as Vanysa said, allow me to do something for you, by allowing you to help yourself. Please." Ainz said, and the final word struck her like a bolt of lightning out of a clear sky, never had he heard him use that word.

She gave a nod that was so small it was almost undetectable. "You will seek help? This very day, of your own will?" He asked.

"I will. I just don't want to hurt anymore, or get anyone else hurt along the way, I'll do it…and I promise I'll do my best to get better." She said softly. Briefly Ainz thought of all the stories of his childhood, the sudden emotional turnarounds, the enthusiasm in sudden changes of heart, the blazing jump in fiery determination, it was appealing to watch, but it wasn't the reality. Neia did not suddenly turn around, she didn't give a giant smile or have a sparkle appear in her dull, battered gaze, her voice remained small, but there was truth in what she said.

"Good, that is the first step, it is perhaps the hardest, particularly for those accustomed to displays of strength, who like you, think they must be strong forever or be weak forever, and don't recognize the impossibility of the former. I'm proud of you Neia, so very… very proud." Ainz said and patted and stroked her hair.

Ainz was very grateful for his emotional suppression, because as she now was, he was reminded once again that he had put the world on the shoulders of a girl who was barely more than a child out of her teens.

"Thank you, sire…" She said softly, her voice still sickly and choked.

"Remember this, when you think about taking your own life… while nobody may own another, we all leave pieces of ourselves in those who care about us, and when a person takes their life, they rip those pieces out of those beating hearts, and leave only mourning and sadness in their place. That is what it means to 'take' one's own life, to take it away from those who value it."

She gave another barely perceptible nod.

"Alright Vanysa, call for a gate, and escort Neia to your treatment facility. I will inform Lakyus, CZ, and Skana that Neia will not be with them today." Ainz commanded.

"Ahm on it, yer majesty!" She said as her bouncy voice returned in force, she stood up and stepped a few paces distant.

"Oh... and one more thing." He said as he lifted her chin to look into the red orbs of his eyes.

"Yes, your majesty?" She asked uncertainly.

"Call me Ainz more often from now on." He said, and though his skeletal face could not show any emotion, she could sense a smile on it.

"As you wish, Ainz." She said, and embraced him once more as the gate opened, Vanysa held out her hand beside it, and Neia stood, walked over to it, took her hand, and they passed through the gate together, leaving Ainz Ooal Gown, alone but for the body in the grave.

**AN: Well that was a rough one, triple release today, one for this story, two for 'Bone Daddy's Daughters' I hope I did a respectable job on this section, I rewrote some parts a half a dozen times or more, trying to convey everything Neia felt without being melodramatic. If I did a good job on it, leave a review. If you want to support my projects, you can support me on P atreon dot com slash godrising. Or you can join my discord for exclusive content, I look forward to hearing from you! :) **


	12. Turnabout

Neia stepped through the gate holding Skana's…no… holding Vanysa's hand. Neia was not the most physically affectionate of women, despite her urgent desires, this was part of why she got on so well with CZ, whose disposition and temperament was very flat, and for whom physical affection was mild at its most excessive moments. Only her wife, only Skana, touched her often.

That sudden recognition that she had never really given thought or voice to, brought her to fresh thinking about why she was who she was. However then she saw that, what lay before her was a paradise built by the divine. It was an idyllic landscape, a long cobblestone road with rolling hills, green grass perfectly trimmed, and trees of the sort the little tomboy who she had been as a small girl would have loved to climb. The leaves rustled like ocean waves and the branches swayed gently in the breeze. Down the long winding road she saw a building so pure and white it could not have been built by anything less than a god. She was rooted to the spot as she took it all in, forgetting her thoughts for a moment. The day was warm and bright, and the sunlight bathed her body and left her feeling warm and cozy in that perfect view.

Vanysa did not seem in a hurry, she stood there next to her, neither moving forward nor letting go. To her, this moment was nothing less than what was expected, and she let Neia take it all in. "This is…" Neia said in a whisper that was almost a prayer.

"Illyana's House, the place His Majesty said you would go to. I guess he named it after that girl you knew?" Vanysa explained, and sort of asked.

Neia nodded numbly. Her eyes were wet and it blurred the heavenly vision, she wiped the tears away to let her see it clearly again and looked over at the king's servant. "You were treated here?" She asked.

"I was, and still am. Learning to live after wanting to die hasn't been easy, I don't think it is something even his majesty's magic could accomplish." She smiled and tilted her head, "But don't let the guardians know I said that, even Demi might be mad at me." She stuck out her tongue a little and bounced on her heel, causing her breasts to bounce with her, making her every motion seem like a winsome playful tease. Neia loved her wife…but she could still look.

"You know," Vanysa said, "maybe it shouldn't be easy, maybe by making us work to untie all our knots, we learn enough about them not to tie them up again later?" She proposed with a gentle casualness.

"But hey, I'm still working at it, I could be wrong? I don't think any of our experiences are the same, I mean if you start in Arwintar and ask how to get to E-Rantel, you're going to use different directions than if I start in what is left of Kami Miyako and try to get to the same place. Just because our desired destination is the same, doesn't mean we'll use the same way to get there, you know?" She pondered aloud and gave Neia's hand a squeeze.

"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for, much stronger than me, and you've got a whole lot of people to support you. So, you ready, or do you want to look a little longer? His Majesty didn't give us an arrival time, so if you want to keep looking for a little… it's OK. I like this view too." Vanysa said with sweet patience in her voice.

"I'd like to… sit down for a little while, is that OK?" Neia asked uncertainly. It felt strange of her to ask, barking orders and giving commands to almost everybody around her was routine, but as she saw it now, she had been given over to the care of Vanysa, at least temporarily, she felt like this Erinyes was in charge of her.

Vanysa let go of her hand and sat down in answer, her knees folded up close to her chest and she wrapped her arms around the front of her legs. Neia mimicked her motions and they just sat in silence for a while, the wind picked up Vanysa's long blond hair and blew it gracefully in the wind, it moved with the smooth flow of a dancer's limbs, and some of it caressed Neia's arm as if in affection. It reminded her of Illyana's long hair, for the Erinyes in her human shape… it was her golden crown, for Illyana it had been a golden leash. Neia tucked her head in, lowering her chin into the space between her knees and looked out.

"What do you do?" Neia asked Vanysa.

"What do you mean?" Vanysa asked curiously.

"For Nazarick, for His Majesty?" Neia asked.

"Anything Master says to of course." She said almost teasingly. It was a nonanswer really.

"It's OK Vanysa, unless he swore you to some kind of secrecy?" Neia asked softly.

"Oh, well a few things, I guess I can tell you." Vanysa said thoughtfully. "Well, you know how I run all those sandwich shops?" Vanysa asked.

Neia nodded.

Vanysa leaned back, putting her hands behind her and stretching out her legs. "Best sandwiches ever anywhere." She said with a proud smile. "Well those are popular for the food and all that, but I also work with Demi running our intelligence operations out of there. Nobody looks twice at a sandwich delivery person, and because I'm just a big boobed peasant when I'm out and about, well these are all anybody notices." She gave Neia her ditziest smile and leaning back, she gave her torso a shake for attention grabbing emphasis.

"My boobs may be big, but I don't keep my brain in there, people forget that. They forget that a large breasted peasant girl can be far more than she seems, I can be beautiful, but still have a brain, just as I can be sweet…but have sharp claws." She said and 'turned' her hand, which took on the golden hue and sharp talons protruded where soft fingers had been.

She continued on after giving Neia a clever grin, "So we've got agents working all over the empire running operations out of my restaurants. The nobles don't frequent it, but their servants do, and servants hear things and servants talk, you can figure out a lot from the gossip of the people, who work for people who don't think they listen." She said and gave a sharp nod of emphasis, "That is where my other job comes in."

"Other job?" Neia asked, already a little surprised, having had to repeat in her head what Vanysa just said a moment ago until she was sure she understood what the girl was getting at.

"Yup, I'm an Erinyes now, remember. You know what we do, don't you?" She asked.

"Not exactly." Neia said.

"I torture the guilty of course, that gives a lot of intelligence as well." She said.

"I… I see." Neia said. "Just the guilty?"

"Uh huh. And I'm very good at it, the one who got me to kill myself when I was still fully human… he was an amateur, he should have known better than to give me that chance. Me though, I'm much, much more skillful, it's music to me. You know that noble who was stealing supplies in Prart?" She asked.

Neia's eyes popped open and she looked over at her. "Yes." She said.

"He still sings for me, his terror, his pain… it's… delicious." She licked her lips, the carefree winsome girl was gone, and in the corner of her eye, Neia saw the other side of Vanysa, the hungry sadist that could never be sated.

…And it did not bother her in the least. That, however, did bother her, because she knew it should have. "There are lots of people who deserve lots of pain." Neia said softly.

"But you're not the sort to give it to them, are you?" Vanysa asked, the sadist that was there a moment ago was gone, Vanysa got to all fours beside Neia and looked at her, she wasn't far away, she was close enough that the almost inaudible sound of breathing could be heard, she was close enough to kiss. "You couldn't do it. Even at your worst, you simply couldn't do it."

Neia heard what she said but didn't look over beyond the corner of her eye, she got the feeling Vanysa wasn't really asking anyway, regardless, she replied with a very weak, "I don't… no, I couldn't… I came closer to killing the innocent outright, than I ever did torturing anyone, even those who deserved it." She said in a wounded voice. "I did, if I'm being honest… I gave the order to execute children, 'Aim for the kids…', 'Aim for the kids…' She whimpered out and looked Vanysa in the face, her own was drawn and haggard. "I had to…I swear there was no way but to do it that way… but how do I live with myself now? I set the standard, I gave the order, people followed me, that makes me responsible as if I'd strapped those children on to the bodies of those who used them as shields myself…if you really torture the guilty… why aren't you making me scream out my soul right now?" Neia asked as her heart broke apart.

Vanysa inched closer, her eyes intense and stormy, like a snake about to swallow a baby bird. "I see all the guilt in you, sense it. In some cases, a lot is cloudy. It depends on the person, like with the people who are proud of what they've done, I can see intimate details of their evil, but with the ones who are ashamed, it's like looking at a figure through the fog. You know it's there; you can make out its shape, but it takes a long time and you have to get much closer to them, more familiar, have them relax around you for the fog to lift. But you, you have all this guilt, but it is more often because of what you couldn't do, or what you had to do, than the things you're actually guilty of. You wanted to hurt people a lot more than you did, didn't you?" She asked firmly.

"Remedios, god I wanted that bitch to suffer, and… well she did… but not nearly enough." Neia said softly. The close proximity of the fury and her intense storm gray eyes caused her heart to pound in anxiety. "But I…" She began, then was interrupted by a change as golden skin replaced the pale shade, a dark crown of hair shifted from its golden blond, fangs replaced common teeth, and talons came out menacingly. Her wings flapped lightly as they stretched, and she touched one talon to Neia's lips.

"Do you really want me to hurt you, like harming your body will heal your spirit? Like that will bring back the children you ordered killed or the people who fell when you made a mistake, or do you just want your mind to not hurt anymore, and you think falling into my talons will do the trick?" She asked, her stormy eyes had an almost dusky look as if she were excited by the prospect of torture, but her words remained gentle, sweet, and sympathetic, strangely enough, Neia felt safe, and the talon came away to permit her to speak.

"I just… I don't want to feel like every breath is a curse, like I have no way out but to die, like I'm going to destroy everything…"

"You're not a torturer, you're not a sadist, oh you might take some revenge, hurt somebody a lot, but you can't ever do what me and Demi do. And bad as you feel, even offering yourself up as a victim, is rooted in a desire to get better, and that is why we're here, you're not someone I would make my prey." Vanysa said softly.

"Demi?" Neia asked, both curious and wanting to shift her thoughts away from their current course.

"You probably call him 'Lord Demiurge' huh?" Vanysa giggled and sat back down, returning the distance that had momentarily set Neia on edge, then she crossed her legs as they stretched out in front of her before that magnificent view again, and allowed her human shape to gradually return. "You probably know this, but when you're having sex with somebody, you tend to relax a bit with formalities." She said with a snicker.

Neia blushed, a prude she wasn't, but Vanysa was… a bit much, she got the distinct feeling Skana would laugh where she herself blushed.

"Um… yeah, I got that." She said, "So you work with him a lot?"

"Uh huh, I didn't have much education growing up, but after His Majesty started teaching me, I learned everything I could, I daresay I'm a better man breaker than my Demi is, he's very good, but his repertoire is… well don't tell him I said this, but he's very bodily focused. For all his brilliance, he doesn't step out of his box much often. It's why I was the one to really break the former King Philip, I worked out his mind and tore down his lies about himself. Forget physical pain, he hates himself, he knows exactly who and what he really is to the bottom of his rotten, disloyal, selfish, predatory, cowardly, vile soul. It's worse than breaking the body, because the body is only there to carry the mind, and the mind is the seat and identity of who you really are. It's why you're aching the way you do." Vanysa said casually.

Neia looked over at her. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"Your mind is torturing you, a lot of you… have been hurt, broken, and you hurt a part of yourself, Skana lost an eye right? But she's mentally healthy, happy, she's deeply in love with you, devoted to your cause, and… yes she has had her bad nights too, but her mind is on her side. But you've turned against yourself and can't just turn it off, you can't put an eyepatch on your brain. Those thoughts you have that tell you you're poison, only an enemy would tell someone that. The ones that say everyone would be better off without you, that you don't deserve a life, or love, that you're going to fail and destroy everything and everyone will have died for nothing and it'll be all your fault… you would never say that to anyone. I don't know you well, but it is easy to see, and yet your brain is saying it to you. That makes it your enemy." She said and put her finger to Neia's forehead.

"So…?" Neia started to ask.

"So you've got to get it back on your side, it's why we've come to this place, so you can start that process, it isn't easy, but even your worst thoughts, well they are just thoughts, they can be fought with other thoughts, you can work on the reasons for them, understand them, and then maybe you'll learn how to treat them, and get better." She said with her winsome smile having returned.

"Maybe? Aren't you the optimistic one?" Neia asked rhetorically.

Vanysa shrugged, "You want me to lie to you? I don't know the future, in the end it is really up to you, I think you can do it. But I don't know that you will. You want false hope, find one of the old Theocracy priests that are still running around on carts peddling relics, they're the kings of self delusion and false hope. Truth is, nobody here will cure you." She said, prompting a startled look from Neia.

"All they'll do, is help you heal yourself." She smiled and stood up, her hand stretched out to Neia, "Come on, let's go, Demi wants my help with one of his experiments later and if I want to take Goan flying this evening, I'll need to get done early."

Neia gave her a weak smile and accepted the hand up. They were on their feet, but Vanysa didn't let go, and though she did wish she had her wife with her, Neia was glad for any kind of reassuring company. They walked closer to the building, the green grass felt soft as it gave way underneath her, the soil was good. The world, from here, looked beautiful. So up the stairs, and through the door they went as they came close to the building. Vanysa guided her gently, almost like a mother leading a child, all the way to the front desk. Rows of chairs were lined up along the wall, and in them sat a few haggard figures with lost looks on their faces. The sight of the famous Neia Baraja snapped those out of their current expression and in to one of shock and confusion, which as a blessing to Neia, also rendered them speechless.

When they got to a low seated window, an elf dressed in a simple white and gold outfit who was going through a set of documents at the window facing desk, heard her approach and set the papers aside. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"Hello, I'm… my name is Neia, Neia Baraja." She froze, the elf woman in attendance obviously knew who she was on sight. She wanted to say more, but the words, she couldn't push them out of her throat, she wanted it so much… she wanted to say so many things. She wanted to say, "It hurts all the time and I don't know what to do." She wanted to say, "I need the poison out of me." She wanted to say, "All I want to do is die, because I can't think of any other way." So many different phrases came to mind, but none of them moved within her, she just opened and closed her mouth several times.

"Y-yes?" The elf asked hesitantly.

Vanysa squeezed Neia's hand again, tears were welling up that Neia couldn't keep back any longer, the nurse was stunned beyond measure. Every elf in every one of the Kingdoms of the Sorcerous Empire knew who she was, the hero who saved so many of their people, the head of the new religion to which all but a scant few elves now belonged, the invincible human of legend who had cowed dragons, broken cities and chains, slain the evil Remedios, destroyed the dark city, had the severed head of the Great Breaker nailed to a post… and here, in front of a common nurse, stood that woman.

"How… how can I help you, ma'am?" The elf woman asked somewhat nervously, watching Neia's face, the legendary eyes of terror looked like shimmering pools of water, the gaze that made kings turn their faces away like peasant girls turned away from lecherous guards, looked softer than she'd ever imagined.

Neia tried again. "I'm… Neia Baraja…" She said softly, she sniffed hard, trying to control herself and wipe her face before her hand fell at her side and balled into a fist. Vanysa squeezed the other hand again and looked at her patiently, nodding in encouragement. "And… I… I need help… please… please oh god I just need help…" She whispered out. She felt, and looked, like she might just collapse where she stood.

This snapped the nurse out of her awe and training instinct took over for her, she immediately stood up and went out a side door and over to the woman of legend, Vanysa gently held out Neia's hand to let the nurse take her. "Yes, of course we'll help you, as long as you need it." She said softly, and she started to lead Neia away. The woman of legend looked back at Vanysa just once and gave her a thankful smile, and then she disappeared into a room, and Vanysa folded her hands behind her and walked back out the way she'd come with a little skip to her step and a happy smile on her face.

_…West of Prart, Illyana's Grave…_

When Neia and Vanysa had gone, Ainz looked down at the grave marker. With nobody around, he chose to speak to the corpse. "You meant a lot to her." He said, "Strange, you didn't know each other all that long, but I guess that is how it is sometimes, and who am I to judge on that? I never met a single one of my best friends face to face, and I'd slay a world to bring them to my side, you and she were at least together for a while. I really screwed that poor girl up." He sighed and tapped the stone as if expecting a response.

"I put all that weight on her, what did I think was going to happen?" He snorted derisively. "I'm sure Demiurge would think her ending up this way is all part of some master plan, and normally I'd let him think that, but… just this once, just this one time, I can't let that happen, if for no other reason than that Neia is one of my servants, and I can't bear the thought of my dear friends children expecting me to be willing to use someone loyal to me so cruelly, that I might do that to them?" He brought his hand to his face, covering it in frustration, "Gah, Shalltear would probably beg for it, psychological torture for sadomasochistic erotic play 'is' a fetish, and is there any that Peroroncino didn't program into her?"

"No, I can't let this one go like I usually do, I'll phrase it delicately and make it clear this was not an intended result, it was an unintended side effect and if it could have been prevented or avoided, it should have been, and if one of my plans ever appears to have the potential to hurt a loyal servant, they should formulate and present to me a way to avoid it. I think if I do that, well Touch Me would forgive my failure just this once." He said to the grave.

"Well, sleep in peace Illyana, I've got a world to reshape. And… for what it is worth, I'm sorry for what happened to you." He said, and a gate opened that took him to Neia's room.

CZ, Lupusregina, Skana, and Lakyus were all gathered there. The latter two looking especially concerned. When the gate opened, they looked hopeful, but seeing it was he and not Neia, their appearance of relief turned to concern. The room knelt to him as was expected, but he bade them rise and take a seat.

"I have… news about Neia." He said gently.

Skana was quick to speak up, "Is she… is she alright, where is she, she's alive, isn't she?" Skana's auburn hair had grown a bit, and it bounced as she spoke, her voice had a powerful note of urgency and fear to it, and her one green eye stared unblinking and intently at the Sorcerer King. Her battle hardened hands wrang together anxiously like a parent whose child had missed curfew.

"She is… alive, yes." The Sorcerer King said, drawing sighs of relief.

"But?" Lakyus said, sensing the caveat.

"But she's entered treatment." He said gently.

"Treatment? Treatment for what?" Skana asked, standing up in shock.

Ainz nodded. "She tried to end her life several hours ago."

Skana instantly collapsed to her knees and poured out seemingly twice the tears as one normally might, as if her one good eye were making up for the deficit of the other. "No… no… no." It was all she could say.

"How could I have let this happen; how could I not see it coming?" She managed to gasp out after questioning herself several times.

Lakyus was frozen in shock, so much so that it took time for her to collect herself to assist Skana in rising. CZ broke her out of her stupor by moving first, but then together they managed to get her up from the floor and sitting limply on the chair.

"How could I have failed my wife so badly?" Skana asked, either seriously or rhetorically, Ainz did not know, but he chose to answer it.

"She had apparently been considering it for a while, it's just that nobody noticed the signs until the day of. She lives because CZ came with Lupusregina, and since Lupusregina is a master cleric, she was able to prevent the death before the poison could do its work." Lupusregina gave a proud smile but knew better than to speak at this moment.

"But I should also point out, that you didn't fail her Skana, you just didn't know what to look for, she kept her intentions hidden from you all as best she could, and since she used the poison that she did, it might be concluded that she didn't want you to know she'd ended her life, that you'd just think she'd been successfully assassinated. She believed herself to be a poison to you all, a toxin that would kill you, so in her traumatized state, her suicide was to be a sort of twisted act of protective love… but it was also meant to end the painful cycle she had been caught up in. She fought the pain in her own mind for a long, long time, probably since Wenmark, maybe it's been building since Remedios tortured her, maybe…"

Skana snapped out "What?!"

Lupusregina and CZ looked at her sternly, one did not interrupt the Sorcerer King, but anticipating their intent to rebuke her, he raised a hand to stop them.

"You didn't know? About what she endured at Remedios's first strike?" He asked.

"I… no, I mean I heard that she'd faced Remedios down and been hurt in the fight, but when I saw her later, she was fine." Skana said in surprise.

"She was definitely not fine and there was no fight. She tried to shame Remedios into calling it all off, she tried to avoid fighting, she knew she couldn't win, so she turned Remdios's power into a taunt, like the Paladin still in her wouldn't want to hurt human beings. She didn't know, and nobody did I suppose, how far gone that woman already was. Remedios beat her, she stabbed her, over and over again through her arms, her legs, she snapped bones, but Neia wouldn't stop, even when she was reduced to a crawling bloody mess and Remedios was ready to cut her to pieces before killing her." He looked at her with a sense of surprise seeming to emanate from him, "You didn't know any of this?" He asked, and she shook her head numbly.

"I wasn't a front liner at the time, wasn't close to her, and later when I was, I guess she just didn't want to talk about it. I guess that explains why she was quick to violence already when I did get to know her, that explains… well, a lot. I've been with her for only a fragment of her life, it seems there is still a great deal I don't know." She looked down and held one hand in the other, trying to picture what it must have been like to have the woman she looked up to once, push steel into her flesh over and over again, trying to kill and destroy everyone and everything she valued. She couldn't even imagine it.

"I wish Remedios were alive… so that I could kill that bitch again." She said as her nails clenched so tight in her fist that she drew blood, and her jaw clenched in impotent rage at the revelation.

Nobody argued the sentiment. "Suffice it to say, I had Vanysa take her to 'Illyana's House' a treatment facility for people who have been mentally scarred. You are free to visit her at will, I will provide the necessary gate scrolls for both going to see her and traveling to wherever you need to go to conclude your investigation. Skana, Lakyus, CZ, you will hunt down the perpetrator responsible for the assassination attempt when not visiting her. Questions?" He asked abruptly.

"Sire, who will go to the Synod?" Skana asked hesitantly.

"I will go, I know my own holy book very well, I will address them, I will recite the tenets of the Book of Battle, I will field their questions, and you all will update me on your progress." He said as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to do.

It wasn't. They were not however, about to argue. "Your will, will be done, sire." They said faithfully as they stood and rendered a loyal salute. A moment later Ainz was gone with Lupusregina, leaving the three alone.

Skana had clearly been holding it together only just barely, because she immediately lay herself on the bed, stared up at the ceiling, and covered her face as if to hide it from the world. Lakyus and CZ could only sit there, if CZ felt uncomfortable there was no sign of it. Lakyus however, was very human and as a result this made her very uncomfortable. Worse than that though, was a significant amount of distress, she'd been close to CZ, Skana, and Neia since the last battle of Prart, so the notion of Neia trying to end her life was jarring and sad. While Skana, a woman Lakyus knew to be bold as a hungry dragon, couldn't even form words, and she could feel the self doubt and wondering how she'd failed the woman she loved.

Lakyus knew that feeling very well, she thought back to the grand reveal in the woods outside of Kedyn, when her precious sister had revealed her vampiric nature, barring her face and offering to surrender her own life if she could not be accepted for who she was by those she loved best. The deep well of shame Lakyus felt, how she'd failed her sister by forcing her to hide herself for so long, and the gentle guidance Neia had offered so recently, to help to ease her burden. Yet through all that, Neia was the wounded bird, and nobody had seen it because she'd hidden it for so long. "If I feel bad, I'll bet she feels terrible." She thought as she looked at Skana.

She moved her chair over and sat next to the bed and grabbed the wrist of the wounded wife. CZ didn't move from where she stood, near the bed but against the wall with her arms folded. "She will get better. She is still strong." The demon girl said confidently.

Lakyus looked at her in surprise, CZ had never said that many words in a row before in all the time she'd known her. On brief reflection, this probably reflected the severity of the circumstances. Lakyus didn't have words like that for comfort, but there was one thing she could say.

"Listen Skana, there are a thousand ways I'm sure you want to blame yourself, but there isn't time for that now, the one who tried to kill your wife is still out there, still alive, and by now they have to know they've failed." Skana's hands fell away from her face.

"You're right." She gasped out.

"Your wife is out there, a wounded heart and a wounded mind and a killer on her trail wanting to take her away from you forever, and she has nobody protecting her as far as we know, are you going to let that happen? Will you let them succeed after two very narrow failures?" She asked softly.

"Two?" CZ asked.

"The poison Neia used came from them, I say it counts." Lakyus added, CZ remained silent, so she probably approved.

"No… No, you're right, I don't have time to deal with this right now, we have to find the killer." Skana said as she sat up. "Grab that bottle CZ and pack it in our things, we need to get ready, as soon as His Majesty's gate scrolls arrive, we're going to Kami Miyako…what is left of it anyway." She slid off the bed and began throwing things into a pack.

"That is more like it." Lakyus grinned, "I'll go get my things ready, we reconvene in an hour."

"You got it, and I can't wait, because I owe some people pain...with interest." Skana said as she pounded her right fist into her left palm and smiled menacingly.

"Cute." CZ said, and walked over and put a sticker on Skana's eye patch.


	13. Healing & Hunting

_...Illyana's House…_

Neia looked over her shoulder again as Vanysa walked away, the sadistic demoness was skipping away the way she often did when she was happy, it was flatly bizarre, but somehow it seemed to come so naturally to the woman that it never occurred to anyone to question it. Neia recognized it as an indication of some form of happiness, and she supposed that was good. As her demonic escort vanished, Neia followed the gentle pull of the nurse on her hand. She took a deep breath as her surroundings passed before her. The walls had murals aplenty and were painted in cooling colors, blue light, soft like that of the reflection of light off of water, was emitted by stones enchanted with specialized continual light spells. The floor was a cream colored marble of magnificent cut, in a few words, it had all been designed with the words 'beauty and tranquility' in mind.

There was no distressing sound to be heard, just the gentle tapping of their feet falling on stone. The nurse caressed her hand as Neia caught up to her, walking beside the elf woman instead of behind her, Neia didn't know where they were going, but she wasn't in a mind to question it. "Oh god… does Skana know I'm here now… she can't be kept in the dark forever… how do I explain this to her…?" Neia wondered with dread.

As that thought was fading, the nurse reached another door, there she stopped and turned to look Neia in the eye. The Mad Eyed Archer, destroyer of breakers, rider of dragons, the conquerer of cities and the bane of fallen paladins, the black paladin herself, was never one to shrink from another's eyes, and so she looked at the nurse's gaze in turn. "Before we go in, I wanted you to know some things." The elf woman said softly, her voice was soft as velvet in hand, and Neia nodded for her to proceed.

"I don't know what happened to you, I won't even pretend I could possibly understand, given all you've done, witnessed, and all that was done to you, we all know the stories and legends, but the first thing you should know is… You are not weak for being here. It is not weak to sleep when tired, bandage a wound, or die when very old, so it is not weak to get help when injured here." She said and touched her palm to Neia's forehead.

"The second thing I want you to know is… whatever you went through, whatever happened, it wasn't for nothing. I'm alive because of you, you got me out of that nightmare, and as long as I live, I will always be grateful. You're my hero." She said, and clasped Neia's hand firmly, "I never got to thank you before, so… thank you ."

Neia started to tremble a little, she struggled to find words that wouldn't burst out in tears, and in that she was unsuccessful, so she gave a little series of nods. "It's OK, where we're going is through here, I'm on duty at the desk, but I promise I'll come back later."

Neia looked at the door, it was of solid oak construction, carved with intricate designs of springs breaking through the earth, tall mountains behind, and beautiful, winged beings in flight. "I… ah… what's in here?" She asked in a small voice.

"Paradise." The nurse said with a small smile, the door opened, and Neia was not disappointed, it lived up to its description in full. There were small rolling hills of perfect green grass, creeks where water ran, cutting channels into the earth, babbling gently over smooth stones, small trees swayed in the wind, and a warm light cast down over the ground.

"Are… aren't we indoors?" Neia asked.

"Yes. This is the fruit of his majesty's efforts, come with me." She said to Neia and stepped within. "You can leave your shoes by the door." The nurse said softly, and Neia removed her boots and set them aside.

"Come along, we'll find a space you like." The nurse said, "I believe Pestonya will be coming to see you personally soon, but we'll make you comfortable first."

"If you say so…" Neia said uncertainly as she crinkled her toes over the grass again.

_...Arwintar…_

Skana cleaned up quickly and was ready before Lakyus or even CZ. Her energy was high, and fueled by anxiety, anger, frustration, and one could say outright fear. She reached back and pulled out her knife, it was the one Neia had taken and then put back in the wrong place to hide what she'd done. Skana couldn't take her eyes away from it, every time she put it away, she'd pull it out and look at it once more, cursing herself for not saying anything sooner. Nobody knew that she knew, and she wasn't going to reveal it, save perhaps to Neia when the chance came to talk… privately, and that, that she couldn't even say when. Tomorrow, a week, a month, in their old age, assuming either or both of them even got to that?

A knock came at the door and she put the knife away again and went to open it. CZ was standing there, so she stepped aside and let the demon maid in. "Hi." Was all she said.

"Hi." CZ said in return.

"Where's Lakyus?" Skana asked.

"Not long behind me." CZ responded.

"I see." Skana replied.

"OK?" CZ asked.

"Are you?" Skana sort of asked, but could more accurately have said to be 'retorting'.

"No." CZ answered in her usual monotone. Skana looked at her in surprise.

"Really?" Skana asked.

"She's a friend." CZ replied, as if that was answer enough, and answer enough it was.

"Thank you." Skana said, she was sincere in what she said, but her tone was closer to CZ's than her own.

Another knock came at the door, CZ chose to act while Skana lost herself in thought, and opened the door to admit Lakyus. The adventurer entered and wasted not a single breath, "Are we all ready to go?"

"Yes, but where do we start?" Skana asked.

"We have two options." Lakyus said as she went to the bathroom and picked up the bottle from the counter. "The first is we can go to where this is made, I'm not one to gamble, but I'll bet that these aren't mass produced, the workmanship on it is too fine, this is high end material, and I have absolutely no doubt that the ones who made it can tell us whose perfume normally goes in here."

"And the second option?" Skana asked thoughtfully.

"We go searching for the poison first, there are only a few places where this type of hemlock grows, and I'm quite sure that if we find that, we'll also find the poisoner." Lakyus said with profound confidence in her tone of voice.

"Both." CZ suggested.

"OK so we have three options." Lakyus said with a shrug. "But whatever we do, let's do it now, I want to come back here to inform Neia that we found your killer, her would be killer." The slender blond adventurer shuddered.

"You know," she said thoughtfully, "as an adventurer, I've always been prepared to die violently, a sword in the gut, a venom from some dangerous monster, a mace to the head, any number of things, I know you all were never in that line of work, but you were soldiers, fighters, the ones who wanted to kill you all were no different, and there is a kind of… integrity to it. The one who wants you to die, shows you their intent and you can fight against it, your skills and abilities can let you prevail. But this? This?" She asked in disgust as she held up the bottle of toxin.

"There is nothing decent or honest about it, how do you prepare to go this way? Honestly if I knew nothing else about Neia Baraja, I'd want to bring down this poisoner just for being a poisoner."

All Skana could do was nod numbly, "Who goes where?" She asked abruptly.

"Preference?" Lakyus asked.

"Whichever one is more likely to let me hurt someone." Skana said emphatically.

"The hemlock region then." Lakyus said, it's not too far from what is left of Kami Miyako. CZ and I will go find the perfumer." Lakyus had a malicious smile on her face, it wasn't something Skana was used to seeing there, but it… fit, at that moment.

"Fine. I'll head to the city when I'm done, we'll meet in the main square at the center of the city with our results, and if one of us isn't holding a severed head, I'll assume we'll know where to get the one we want after we're done." Skana said viciously.

"Safe bet." CZ said in a monotone that hid an underlying anger, a sea of it that Skana and Lakyus could only detect through considerable exposure to the maid demon.

"Open the gates then." Skana said.

"On it." Lakyus replied, and removed the scrolls she needed, a moment later, the trio traded looks.

CZ reached out and touched Skana's hand, it was a rare physical gesture, and it got Skana's full attention. "Capture first, kill later." She said in a stern monotone, and after that was acknowledged, the three stepped forward and walked through the holes in reality that took them to their respective locations.

_...Outside of Kami Miyako…_

Lakyus looked at the ruined walls of the once great city. There were still great big gaping holes from the recent siege, the rubble hadn't even been cleared away from most of it. The gate was off its hinges and cast aside as if thrown by a giant. The city had, simply put, seen better days.

"Well, this place has looked better." Lakyus said dryly. A wind picked up from the opposite direction, and Lakyus wrinkled her nose. "It has smelled better too."

CZ shrugged. "Stupid decisions make bad ends."

"They do." Lakyus replied, "Let's hope we don't have to remind too many people of that before the day is over."

CZ didn't respond to that, not with words. Instead she simply unholstered her spell gun and walked towards the ruin of the once mighty gate.

Lakyus was only a quarter step behind her when she started to move. Entering the city was… sobering.

Buildings were wrecked and destroyed, most of them had at least one gaping hole, though some enterprising residents had managed to at least cover it with a cloth to keep the cold out. While she was sure that the maid demon didn't feel a thing, Lakyus felt a terrible chill. It wasn't intolerable, but it was anything other than comfortable.

"CZ, can I ask a question without causing offense?" Lakyus asked as they walked the shabby, dirty, ruined streets of the once great capital.

"Ask." The demon maid said flatly.

"Is the Sorcerer King… is he punishing these people?" Lakyus asked in a measure of discomfort and disbelief with her own words.

"How?" CZ asked as she looked around.

"I've been to Ikari, I've been to Wheaton, I've been to a number of towns and villages along the way when I was traveling to the Synod after the war ended." Lakyus said, then went quiet as she saw a child chasing after a rat.

"Yes?" CZ prompted.

"And in all of them…" Lakyus clenched a fist in frustration, she unclenched and reclenched it several times and ground her teeth, "I saw better than this." She said as CZ looked at her in silent expectation.

"I fought for the Sorcerer King in Prart, I'm going to be speaking up for him in the Synod, I… did I fight for 'this'?" She asked as she waved her hand at a group of peasants huddled around a fire.

"In the other places, he adjusted the weather directly over the villages so that people would be warm, he had the captured supplies of grain returned so that people wouldn't starve to death, his priests and red paladins travel to those places and provide healing, and I even saw undead working as laborers in a few places. But here? Here you'd think the war ended just this morning. Winter is only going to get worse, how many people are going to freeze to death or starve when that happens?" Lakyus asked in an agitated voice.

"They do it themselves." CZ said in her customary abrupt fashion.

"But the war is over." Lakyus said in a voice that was almost a plea. "Why are they being punished, they're broken." She said sadly as she looked at a man with a missing arm, he lay huddled against a wall in the remnants of a theocracy military uniform. She caught his eye, and she saw recognition in it.

He got up as fast as he could and scrambled away, running as if in a rout all over again, his wail of terror fading in the distance. She wondered if his feet hurt, he had only one boot, and that was badly worn down and frayed. At his reaction, she guessed he was either at Kedyn, or he was at Prart, either was possible, but now she'd never know.

"He could have been healed, gotten warm clothing, been allowed treatment somewhere, something. Must he be punished still, forced to live like that?" She pointed to where he'd been crouching against the wall, a raggedy military bag sat there abandoned, several grimy children charged at it and dumped its contents, they scrambled for the chance to take his meager possessions while the chance was there. Meager, from what Lakyus saw, was a generous word, scraps of clothing, a water pouch that had seen better days, a sack spilled open revealing rotted meat and moldy cheese, which they eagerly took and stuffed into their mouths as happily as if they'd been eating sweet candy.

"They do, not did." CZ clarified.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that this festering pile of ruins has been refusing aid?!" Lakyus said in absolute outrage.

CZ gave her a grim nod.

"They'd kill their children to keep their faith?!" Lakyus's face went white as a sheet, and her memory flew back to the day of her own fateful choice, when her precious little sister Keeno had bared her face and revealed her vampire eyes. The sight of her standing there with her arms open to be embraced or killed haunted Lakyus still, and would haunt her until her dying day, not because she could have killed her sister. To her the choice, though stark, was not even a choice. What haunted her was how badly she must have wounded her sister over and over again, that Keeno felt it likely, even nearly inevitable.

It was an impossible thought, but here as she looked around at the filth, the shivering, the hunger, the wounded in body and mind, she realized something absolutely awful. She barely found the breath to give it voice. "By god… they've got to be mad, all of them, utterly mad." She said so softly that CZ herself could barely hear it.

"Yes?" She asked.

"They'd sacrifice not just their own lives, but the lives and futures of their children, to what… pass some test of their gods, to please their gods… I just… I can't." Lakyus said, equal parts stupified and horrified.

As they walked, they passed a beggar who was reduced to little better than skin and bones. "Food, please…!" he said hoarsely.

Lakyus opened her traveling cloak, crouched next to him, and reached into her pack. "Of course." She said with a sad expression on her face, he looked grateful at the well to do woman, until his eyes fell to the contents of the pack and he saw a copy of the Book of Black Justice.

His eyes turned hateful. "No! Get away from me!" He snarled and tried to spit at Lakyus's face, however he was in no state to do that very well either, and most of it simply flopped out and fell into his ruin of a beard. "Go away servant of evil!" He flailed his sticklike arms and tried to spit several times, "I'd kill you if'n I still had my strength, just leave me alone, I'd rather die than take your evil into my body!"

Lakyus wiped a fleck of spit from her face that had managed to bridge the gap between them. She stood silently, closed her pack, stepped back from the hateful glare, then turned, and walked away. CZ walked with her.

"So I'm not the hero of humanity anymore, not here anyway." She said.

"No." CZ said. "Not here."

"No healers?" She asked CZ.

"None." CZ replied.

"What about trade goods." She asked.

"Few. Just artisans." CZ replied.

"That district is intact?" Lakyus asked, surprised.

"Spared." CZ replied in a casual monotone.

They walked silently for a long time, past burned down homes and homes being stripped of things for people to burn to fend off the winter chill. A few kids were hurrying across the street carrying an intact door, they looked like they'd just found treasure, perhaps they had.

"You know where we're going, right?" Lakyus asked as she looked around at the devastated and unfamiliar surroundings.

CZ nodded slightly.

"How?" Lakyus asked.

"Doesn't matter. Just follow." CZ answered. They reached the main square, the gallows was still intact.

Lakyus gestured to it. "I wasn't here when the hangings happened. How many?"

"Many." She answered again.

"Did they deserve it?" Lakyus asked.

"You saw Feron? You saw Wheaton?" CZ asked, the question was rhetorical. Lakyus went pale again.

"I withdraw the question." She said softly.

As they walked further, the city started to 'improve' with fewer holes in buildings, and bigger buildings. The people moving through that district about their business were 'somewhat' better dressed, but it was readily apparent that they'd seen better days as well.

Lakyus tensed when they passed through the part of the city where slaves had been sold. There were still platforms intact, a few still had chains attached where slaves had been 'positioned' in various ways to show off to the buyers.

CZ moved herself a little closer to Lakyus, it was a minor gesture. It meant a lot.

They passed in silence through the area, Lakyus didn't bother commenting on the blood splatter that was still staining stones, the violence done here would be written of for a thousand years, and remembered life long by people for whom a 'lifetime' was a laughable concept.

Eventually they made it deep into the city. "This was the heart of their government." Lakyus said quietly, "It looks so… normal. I was expecting something 'else'."

"Evil wears fine trappings." CZ said dismissively, she moved on, Lakyus almost didn't notice as she stopped to let her gaze linger at the husk of the building. A government still existed here, and it was every bit as stupid as the last one. It wouldn't last, that much she was sure of.

She rushed to catch up with CZ, and eventually they found themselves moving out of the governing area and into the arts district, this was the one area of the city which had been almost completely untouched, the place where books and fine crafts were made and sold, it was once the richest part of the city.

It still was. It was just that 'richest part of Kami Miyako' now had a very different meaning than it did not that long ago. The doors were intact and the people who worked there still had intact clothing, the streets were not exactly 'clean', but there were no children chasing rats and they even saw a few guards with intact armor and weapons, but none wore the old symbol of the defunct Slane Theocracy.

They checked the windows and signs as they walked along, and eventually came to one indicating it was owned by a glass maker. Lakyus entered first with CZ in tow, even as shops on this block went, the place looked to be doing fairly well.

"Good day, sir." Lakyus said as she spied an old man behind the counter, he was wrinkled as could be, with hard looking hands for his evidently advanced age, his head was bald but for a few wisps of gray hair, and he was clean shaven, a rarity now in the city.

"Yer not from here." He said as he put his hands on the counter and leaned forward.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Lakyus asked, incredulous at the rapid conclusion.

"No good days left in Kami Miyako." The old man said sarcastically.

"True." CZ said indifferently.

Lakyus half expected him to glare at her, but he didn't, he shrugged. "Well, you're right, we're not from here, but we're looking for something we think might have been made here." She said in a hopeful voice.

"You want me to identify something for you eh? Well, I suppose I can do that. It'll cost ya though." He said, biting his lip with some evident anxiety. Lakyus wasn't stupid, she guessed he was anxious for every coin he could get, even if he was doing well compared to others.

"What do you have?" He asked.

"Are these OK?" Lakyus asked and laid out three gold coins of the Sorcerous Kingdom on his counter.

"Hell no." He said flatly.

"But… it's gold" She said, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, from the undead what destroyed our country and our city." He said, frustration evident in his voice.

"But…" Lakyus said and then paused as he slapped his hand down on the counter, concealing the coins.

"Ain't no 'but' lady." He let out a slow breath and calmed himself, "Listen, I'm sure you didn't come here just for any old thing, but I can't take these coins. I can't use them, ain't nobody in Kami Miyako that'd take all three of these in trade for a bucket a warm spit. You get me? I… can't… use em. Even 'having' these coins, could have some rabble rouser turn on me, then where'll I be? Dead in a ditch, that's where. Got somethin else?" He asked.

"No…" Lakyus said.

"Then I don't know a damn thing." He said.

CZ started to lift her weapon, only for Lakyus to dart her hand out and catch the top, she held her hand in place, CZ lowered the weapon again. "Wait," she said as the disinterested shop keeper stopped himself from walking to his back work room.

"What?" He asked.

"What if we gave you something else, something more valuable." Lakyus asked thoughtfully.

"That's right kind of you lady, but ole Vepyr here is just a little too much your senior for that." He guffawed as his joke brought a blush to the adamantite adventurer.

"No… not what I meant. What if we got you a chance to start over, new shop, new equipment, new location, your pick, anywhere in the Sorcerous Empire." Lakyus said, and that sparked a gleam in his eyes.

"You can do that?" He asked.

"I can." She said, "I offer my personal guarantee that if my backer does not support my offer of compensation, then I will out of my own pocket, ensure my promise is kept."

"What the hell is so damn important?" He asked in shock.

"This." Lakyus said and took out the ornate glass perfume bottle, and set it on the counter. "I want to know who made this and where it went."

"Well, that's easy, this is my work." He said, "But why're you looking so hard for me?"

CZ's weapon was up again, much faster than Lakyus could move her hand to stop the motion, the muzzle squarely pointed at his face.

He might not have known 'what' her weapon was, but he was sure that it was a weapon, and he froze where he stood, only his bowels moved, and he decided that if he lived, he'd ask for a new pair of pants to be thrown into the bargain.

"Wait CZ…" Lakyus said softly.

CZ waited, but even through the cold and indifferent face she wore, Lakyus could detect that she was not happy about what had happened to Neia and her wife, and she was eager for payback.

"So, this is your work, it is… exquisite." Lakyus said as she praised Vepyr.

"Yeah, thanks ah, can she not point that thing at me?" He asked as his breathing increased with his fear.

"CZ?" Lakyus asked, and the demon maid reluctantly lowered the weapon.

"My comrade here seems to have gotten ahead of herself, I suppose I should explain. A bottle, just like this, was used to hold poison, that poison was used in an assassination attempt on the pope of Black Justice, you know, Neia Baraja, the woman who reports to nobody except for the Sorcerer King himself."

Vepyr looked, and felt, like he might fall over then and there. "Did… is she dead?" He asked in surprise, thinking he had a very big problem on his hands as he asked the question.

"No. By lucky coincidence… if you want to call it that, the attempt failed and they killed her wife instead." Lakyus's voice went very cold as she explained the situation. "You made this, you say?" She asked again, and set it down delicately on the counter, the threat was heavily implied, but not outright spoken.

"Well, yes, but I made it to hold perfume, not poison!" Vepyr said defensively.

"Well poison it held, now I don't believe you had a hand in that change of contents, but you do know where these bottles go, how many do you make?" She asked.

"About a hundred a year." He said, her face fell.

"But, every batch is a little different, so I can tell you where this most likely went, I can narrow it down to about a dozen candidates." Vepyr said ingratiatingly.

"Better, but that is still quite a few." She said, and CZ casually stroked her firearm.

"Well, most of them are dead. This attempt was recent, so unless they bought a long while ago, it's going to be one of… just a moment." He said and reached under his counter and took out a book. He started flipping through pages one after the other while sweat beaded on his bald head.

"Ah, here we go." He said as he came to the proper page, he lowered his finger down the length of it, and then on a piece of stray paper he wrote down that person's information, and then did the same with two more.

He handed it over to Lakyus, who took it brusquely from his hands and looked it over.

"Those are the only three that got these from me in the last month, who are also still alive. You find the one who ain't got his bottle, you found the one who went and wasted perfectly good perfume." He said confidently.

"Thank you." Lakyus said sincerely, "When all this is over, or before if I can, I'll send someone to help you move out, pick where you want to go before we arrive." She said appreciatively.

"Uh huh, you just take care out there, lotsa unpleasant folk about." Vepyr said and gave them a little wave as they walked out of his shop and the door shut behind them. He wiped his brow and said softly, "Phew, there sure are some scary people in this world."

_...South of Kami Miyako…_

Skana stepped out of the gate and onto dry grass. She looked around and smirked. There were people, not many, but a few, and they were going into the woods not far from where she stood. They hadn't seen her. There weren't many good reasons to go there. At least no reasons that fit them, they were obviously not hunters, not with the lack of bows or other hunting equipment.

She waited, their backs were to her so they hadn't seen a thing, it was trivially easy for the Black Justice front liner and former scout to follow them without being seen. She ran through the options in her head. They were violent looking people, but as the one who killed Braunin in single combat, and the one who had a hand in killing Remedios Custodio, she was certain that however good they were, she was better.

That meant she had choices, she could…

Kill them all? Satisfying but… she wouldn't gain information.

Disable them all? Possible but she couldn't be certain that none would raise an alarm.

Secure them one by one starting from the back and going forward? Sentry removal was heavily emphasized for scouts, and this was the same thing or nearly.

She was getting angry. She watched the way they moved, it was sloppy, arrogant, and they were all well fed, five of them. There was no way in her mind she could see that they could be as well fed as they were compared to others without some really dirty dealings or some really important ties to powerful people, or both.

"Fuck it." She said softly to herself and waited until they came to a clearing that left her enough room to move around, one of them would know what she needed, the rest didn't have a use. As soon as they were near the edge of the clearing, Skana revealed herself.

"Cough, cough, really big damn cough." She said contemptuously, not even bothering to pretend the cough was real. They whirled around in shock to see her standing behind them. Skana wasn't that tall, not but a little taller than Neia herself, but she was well toned from her time in training and in combat, her auburn hair hung lower than it used to, but not by much, it bounced freely behind her as she stepped into the clearing from concealment. Her one green eye shone bright even in the shadow of the tree cover.

Before they could speak, she did, and as she spoke, they spread themselves out. 'Oh good, a fight.' Skana thought happily.

"I'm not going to waste my time the way you've wasted your lives, whatever you're out here for, it isn't hunting, you're thugs, you've either got a gang or a stash out here and I don't care about either." Skana said bluntly, throwing them for a loop with that statement.

"I care about one thing and one thing only, anyone who tells me what I want to know gets to live, everyone else is disposable." She said with a hard edge to her voice.

A large black bearded figure who stood at the center of their formation took a step forward, "Ay you think you can kill all five of us little girl?" He asked mockingly.

"Absolutely, I killed Braunin in single combat, I helped kill Remedios Custodio, I'm the vice commander of Black Justice, one of the hundred escorts of Tinamoc, I helped burn Wenmark and bring down Hoburns, killing you all is no more difficult than wiping my ass, only difference is that my ass is cleaner. My name is Skana Baraja, wife of Neia Baraja, and you will talk... or you will die." As she spoke, they froze, the largest thug stopped in disbelief.

He, and they, looked more closely at her, as if comparing her appearance to those stories they'd heard about various figures in the war. "You're in charge, yeah?" She asked, and he nodded without thinking.

Skana had her bow out and loosed two arrows in rapid succession, putting an arrow into the eyes of two bandits and sending them falling to her back. She was already moving forward as they processed what had just happened. They were slower in body and in mind than she was, and her sword was already in hand.

Men of violence are not easily frightened, death is a constant companion, but it is not often in a lifetime that one meets an agent of the god of death in battle, and that threw them off their game considerably. When the stakes are life and death, one's game cannot ever be 'off'. Skana kicked the big, broad thug in the knee with her orichalcum tipped boot, it shattered… his knee, not the boot. He fell, buckling over to one side with a scream as he clutched the wounded part. The remaining two were thinner, smaller, and they'd just lost their three comrades.

They charged desperately, driven by the last ounce of courage in their bodies, they moved to try to bring her down by way of reckless effort alone, their swords went high to try overhead swings down at her head, neck, or shoulders. 'Pathetic.' She thought, her sword arm was a blur as she ducked, spun, and brought her sword up to the middle of the first man's arm, and then as she passed them in the spin, completely over her head and then down into the wrist of the second. When she completed the motion she was beyond where they were still stumbling forward and she struck a side stance watching them stumble forward screaming as they looked for their lost 'pieces'.

She sniffed contemptuously and walked back over to them, they were not paying attention to the rest of the world. The first she killed took a sword in the back. The second she killed took it in the back of the head, he lived long enough to see the blade coming out of his mouth.

Their erstwhile leader was still crying out on the ground, he'd seen what had just happened to his people. Terror and pain were filling his eyes as the grass and leaves crunched under the footsteps of the wife of death's avatar.

She stomped his other knee. It shattered. He bit so hard that foam started to fleck past his lips.

"Do you believe me now?" Skana asked as she walked around his prone form.

"I asked you a question." She said, "Do I need to do your elbow next?" Her shining eye was savage and violent, and poured hate out onto his like it was burning acid. He nodded in terror.

"I want to know where hemlock based poison is made, or who sells it. Tell me what I want to know, and I promise in the name of the wife I love, that you will live, that you will die an old, old man, many years from now, you may even be cared for by a very beautiful woman, I don't know about that, but… you'll die old." Skana said firmly.

"Swear it then." He sputtered out, still writhing on the ground, trying to inch himself away from her and failing.

She put her boot down on his sternum and applied pressure. "I, Skana Baraja, swear on the life of my wife, Neia Baraja, that I will let you live if you tell me what I want to know. I will ensure that you do not die of anything but old age, in our names, I so swear." Skana said formally.

"Ghah…" he gasped out, "Alright, alright I'll tell you, deep in the woods back here, there's a cabin, it's almost impossible to find if you don't know where it is exactly, girl who lives there, she grows and makes the stuff, I can take you to her, alright?" The agonized voice of the bear like thug was desperate.

"Heal my knees, you gotta have a heal potion right, heal me, and I'll take you to her. Please, you gotta… hurts so much…" He arched his back at the pain, only for her to press back down with her booted foot.

Skana pretended to think it over.

"Fine." She said, "I guess that would make it easier. But first this." She said, and moved to one side of him, she rolled him over onto his stomach, prompting another cry of pain as his knees hit the ground directly. She grabbed his arms and pulled them behind his back. She tied his wrists firmly with a piece of rope she'd taken from her pack. He was whimpering in pain. She didn't care.

When that was done she stood up and pulled out a potion, she poured it over his body, and a moment later the pain and injury was obviously gone.

"Get up." She said, and he gradually worked his way up to his knees, then to his feet. "Now lead the way, and bear this in mind, you try to lead me into a bandit camp, it doesn't matter if you've got ten, twenty, or fifty of them, because I'm the lioness, and you're the fucking deer. Understood?" She asked.

He nodded dumbly and walked forward. They stepped into the thick of the woods again and left the corpses in the clearing behind.

"C'n ah ask somethin at least, thout gettin a sword in the throat?" He asked after a few minutes.

Skana was annoyed, but seeing no harm, she said, "Fine, ask."

"What'd we do that broughtchu after us?" He asked, mystified. "Ah believe yah are who yah says but… we's just ordinary bandits'n all, so what…?" He trailed off as he sensed her renewed rage growing behind him.

"You really want to know?" Skana asked.

He nodded. "If'n my day is gonna go as bad as all this, might as well know why." He replied.

"Fine, someone used a hemlock poison to try to assassinate my wife. I've grown attached to her as you might guess." Skana said with scathing sarcasm. "As it happened though, they missed her, they killed me instead." She said bluntly.

"But you're…" He started to stammer out.

"Alive? Yeah, I got better." Skana said viciously.

She could see his nervousness increase, that was good as far as she was concerned. He was silent for the next two hours. The woods were only getting thicker, darker, they were very deep now, shadows were cast everywhere in broad daylight, but this was nothing for the veteran scout, and if her prey stumbled a bit, she was in no mood to give a damn.

Finally they came to a hillside, various rocks were jutting out from it. "This is the place." He said.

"What are you trying to pull?" Skana snapped.

"Nothin, I swear. See them rocks over there, the ones with that big bush between em?" She nodded.

"I do. What about that spot should I notice?" She asked.

"That bush comes away, hides a door under them rocks, painted to look like the hillside, an that hillside ain't a hillside, it's a cabin, she done covered it with dirt and planted grass an stuff all over it, now it looks like a normal hill, but she gots a nice place in there." He said fervently.

Skana was taken aback at what he said, she looked more closely, now that he'd said it, the shape of the hill was ever so slightly off, she rarely saw straight lines in nature, yet if she looked closely, she thought she could detect the shape of the angles on the top of the hill where the 'roof' must be.

"Alright, fine, I believe you." Skana said, "Will she be there?"

"We were going to see her, so, I think so." He said nervously.

"I see. Who is she, what is she, and what is she capable of?" Skana asked, putting the tip of her sword to his back.

He stank of fear. "She's just a poison master far as I know, never seen her do nothin else." His voice had not lost its anxiousness, and when the tip of the sword pressed slightly, he put the smell of ammonia into the air. Skana ignored that.

"Fine, I believe you." Skana said.

He sighed with relief, "So you let me go now?" He asked.

"Let you go?" Skana asked curiously. "When did I say that? I said you would be allowed to live, and to die of old age, I never said anything about letting you go."

He barely had time to understand what she meant when she hit him in the back of his head with the pommel of her sword and robbed him of his consciousness.

_...Nazarick…_

Burl woke up, he shook his head, he had a horrible headache. He looked around, he had no idea where he was. He stopped looking when he saw a beautiful peasant girl sitting on a chair directly in front of him. That was when he noticed the chains on his wrists.

"Ugh, where am I?" He asked.

"What is the last thing you remember?" The lovely girl asked gently.

"I-ah, I was takin a woman claiming to be Skana Baraja ta see… a friend ah mine, I got hit in the head, that was it. Now… can yah tell me where ah am?" He asked again. "An… who're you?" He asked as he looked her over. His face fell to her breasts.

"Well, to answer your last question first," she said, "my name is Vanysa." She took a deep breath through her nose, as if smelling a flower. "Oh that is so wonderful… you're so very proud… aren't you? Of everything you've done. I can see it, smell it all so clearly, by god I can almost feel how good you felt every time…" She was talking, but it didn't feel like it was to him.

He was concerned, she wasn't making sense, nothing made sense, he tried to move, the chains rattled.

"I…" he started to say, but she was walking seductively towards him, and the part of his brain that used higher thought, lost the argument with down below on which way the blood should flow.

"Can I kiss you?" Vanysa asked shyly.

"Course." He said arrogantly, figuring whatever strange thing was going on, might as well be fun.

She took the sides of his chin between her thumb and forefinger, and smiled lustily at him, she smelled like a noble woman, of perfume and lavender, he wanted her, he closed his eyes for the kiss.

"No, open them." She said duskily, and when he complied, he found himself looking into the face of nightmare, the grip of her fingers went from gentle and seductive, to cracking his jaw, she pressed her lips to his when he had only a moment of horror to process her fangs, wild eyes, and golden skin.

Her lips covered his, her fangs pierced them, and she tore them away, she stepped back as he started screaming in futility.

"As to where you are, Mr. Bandit," she began to laugh wickedly, "you are in Nazarick, in my… personal care, and it is where, in accordance with your promise from Skana, you will get to live until you are a very, very, very old man, just as she said when she gave you her word." Her mad laughter echoed in the room, and every day for the rest of his life, he envied the two who had died first in the woods that fateful afternoon.

_...Woods…_

When Skana had disposed of the bandit, she scouted the area around the residence, she searched for traps and alarms, and found none. At first glance it seemed odd, and she was worried that the woman who lived there was unusually good at laying them. Then it occurred to her that no… this reliance on concealment was her best protection, anything else, if found, would make the area suspicious.

So it was with great trepidation that Skana approached the area of the residence, she drew closer, creeping up until she was gently pressing herself against the outer wall, as she pressed, she could feel the wooden boards beyond, this much of what the bandit had said was clearly true.

Skana waited, listened, she could hear faint sounds of motion inside, and as close as she was, she could smell the faint odor of potion making. If this wasn't the place, Skana was willing to eat her sword. Now… how to bring her down, that was the question.

She took a deep breath, she'd let out some of her rage on the bandits, but this… this was the one who had provided the poison, arguably the second most guilty person in the chain of responsibility. Normally she wanted to simply charge in, smash her fist into the shocked face of the one responsible, and call it a day.

This time though, this time she had another idea. She went to the far side of the home as quietly as a low breeze over the plains. She gently struck a spark close to the side of the home, it leapt from the stone and struck the back, dry as everything was now, it didn't take much encouragement, all Skana had to do was cover it against the wind and blow it for a moment, she went to two other parts of the house, and started two more fires.

When this was done, Skana rushed quickly and silently to the space in the woods beyond the clearing and clambered up into a tree, she watched at first, then listened, the woman was crying out in shock and fear, that fear quickly became outright terror as the fire began to collapse timbers within and sections fell to collapse, a few moments later a young woman came screaming out of the house and happily, she stood at the base of the tree where Skana had perched herself.

Skana waited, savoring the distress of the poison maker as her work, her life, her home was taken away from her, but for her, this was only the beginning. After her terror seemed to have peaked, Skana jumped down, gently dropping herself from the branches, and she landed in front of the woman.

She had just enough time to be surprised as Skana gave a vicious smile, said, "Hi there." And brought her fist into the middle of the woman's face. She flew back, hit the back of her head on the tree, and fell unconscious.

"Neia would have done that a lot more gracefully, but hey, it got the job done." Skana said aloud to herself as she looked down at the crumpled body, and started cutting strips off of her dress which she used as ropes to bind her hands and feet.

It was two hours later before the woman started to groggily come to.

"Hi there." Skana said as she sat with her back to a tree sharpening her sword.

The woman's eyes flew open, they were hazel, and very expressive. 'Pretty thing really,' was what Skana thought, 'young too, damn shame.'

"Recognize me?" Skana asked casually. The woman shook her head.

"No?" She shrugged.

"Do you recognize the name 'Neia Baraja?'" Skana asked as she turned the blade over to hone the other side with her whetstone.

"Ah… yes?" She answered hesitant.

"Good, that'll make this easier. We both know that you're a poisoner." Skana said.

The woman looked about to speak, but Skana preempted her. "Lie to me, and I'll cut that tongue out, I'm annoyed with you right now, and if you make it worse by lying, I'll be very unhappy."

The woman closed her mouth.

"Smart." Skana said.

She looked at Skana angrily, but said nothing else.

"Now, I have only one question. Who bought poison from you?" Skana asked.

She remained silent.

"In case you're wondering, I ask because your poison was used to poison my wife, Neia Baraja, but the assassin missed her, they got 'me' instead. So I'm doubly annoyed at the lot of you. Do you see where I'm going with this?" Skana asked.

The woman remained silent.

"If you don't use your tongue as directed, I'll remove it as a useless appendage. I'll make this absolutely clear to you, I already know you're guilty, the use of hemlock and the bottle that is locally produced made you the only candidate. So I want only one piece of information, who bought it?" Skana asked.

"Bottle?" The woman asked. "What bottle?"

"The poison was stored in a very beautiful and ornate container, one which normally held expensive perfumes. My friends are already on their way to the glass maker to find out who the buyers were that are still alive, your only chance to leave me with your body intact is the truth."

"Now what'll it be?" Skana asked as she got up, put away her whetstone, and approached the bound girl, she put her sword at the eye of the woman. "I get by with one eye, can you get by with none?" She asked, and the woman began swearing as she looked down, when she ran out of swear words, she sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you everything."

**AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you didn't, well how the hell did you get this far? Thanks for reading, I look forward to the reviews.**

**OH, I almost forgot, some of you probably read my little 'Dare to be Badass' author note encouraging people with plot ideas to finally write your own stories, and I just wanted to bring one of the ones to answered that call to your attention, this guy really captured the character of Ainz, the author's user name is Lutemis. He did a very interesting IQ piece that I just took a look at not to long ago, worth reading.**

**And last but not least...give Ultrafan123 a look, he recently uploaded Chapter 5 of his story and...had the misfortune of doing so at almost the same moment as when I dropped all 15 chapters at once soooo...yeah his work got pushed down on the list and probably wasn't seen. I took a look, its actually worth reading so far, just got through the first chapter, but the structure is strong and I haven't seen a crazy self insert yet.**

**That's all for now!**


	14. The Book of Battle

**AN: While there is some laying the scene in this chapter, the bulk of the material details the contents of his religious text, if you don't care for that aspect of the story, you can probably skip that chapter, the 'holy book' as I've put it together is just worldbuilding to create a functional religion that can actually work. Honestly it's an indulgence that is more for me than anyone else because I just like detailed culture crafting. If you read it, fine, if you don't, you won't be lost in the next chapter.**

When Ainz walked through Arwintar that morning, he did not walk alone, Leinas Rockbruise had long since returned to her status as one of his bodyguards, despite being far, far weaker than he, it was a position of honor and it was a symbol of human trust in the Sorcerer King. She walked in front of him with her hand placed firmly on her sword. This was not, for her, a symbol. She could wear her hair back because he had kept his word, he had saved her from her self-disgust and given back the face she had lost. If it came to it, she would put his life before her own. Her long golden hair hung freely behind her bouncing gently as she marched formally and at a constant military pace.

Most of the time the Sorcerer King was happy to linger and speak with the populace, and when it came to Arwintar, where he was especially popular, he proved…a little frustrating to guard because he enjoyed his small diversions into the lives of his subjects.

Not this time. This time it was clear he was moving with purpose, while he was not rushing, he walked like a man who had to be somewhere, and he did. This didn't surprise most of those who saw him, everybody knew the Synod was taking place, and though he hadn't been seen until now… well speculation had been rampant about when he would appear.

Today was that day, he got to the door of the massive building, but before he could enter, Leinas caught his eye when she turned to him and met his gaze.

"Yes, Leinas?" He asked curiously.

"Sire, whatever they decide in there, you are a god…here." She said, and rendered her salute, placing her fist firmly over her heart, and looking up into his expressionless face.

"Thank you." He said sincerely as he touched her shoulder.

She stepped aside and took the handle of the door for him and walked through, first, looking for any sign of hostility, before he followed her within.

The rows and rows of seats were filled, a few were empty of priests, but had been filled by scribes who would take notes for those who stood absent for whatever reason. Where the priests wore formal robes of white, the scribes wore a faded blue colored like ink, with silver caps on their heads, they reminded Ainz somewhat of walking pens at first glance, like the cheap multipack ones you could buy at a convenience store. He let himself smirk internally at the comparison and then he began when the noise settled.

"I know some of you are wondering today where the pope is, why is Neia Baraja not here, and why do I stand in her place?" He said, his voice carrying from the lowest ear on the lowest tier, to the highest ear on the highest tier. There were many nods around the room.

"She is not here with us today because she is in need of recovery, the poison of an assassin has left her deeply wounded, so I have had her transferred to a facility intended to treat her hidden wounds. Too, she has done much, and is deserving of a good rest. Therefore, I will speak instead." He said.

"So, a god will speak to us?" A somewhat sarcastic voice let slip.

"A god that cannot speak for itself, is hardly much of a god now, is it?" He asked rhetorically, his witty retort created a stirring of discomfort among those who have served gods that haven't said a word for themselves in centuries.

"As conflict is the order of the day, and it is conflict that led us to this hour, after a year of war and destruction, I will tell you of the Book of Battle.

B.B. 1-1 War is that which settles questions in a contest of child killing, therefore consider your questions significance with care.

B.B. 1-2 A war of words costs less than a war of swords, therefore wage the former for as long as you can before accepting that the latter cannot be avoided.

B.B. 1-3 Wage no war on those who will not march against you.

B.B. 1-4 War is waste, what wealth there is from it comes from theft and predation.

B.B. 1-5 Who advocates for war, should fight it themselves.

B.B. 1-6 To slaughter for victory is to surrender to vice, to win without slaughter is to win a brighter future.

B.B. 1-7 It is the brevity of mortal life, with its great scarcity in the span of eternity, which gives it value, do not spend it foolishly.

B.B. 1-8 The fires of war are the crucible of necessity in which either all virtue or all vice will be burned away to lay bare the true nature of those with whom you fight, both for, and against. B.B. 1-9 If you find yourself surrounded by those whose virtue is burned away to nothing, you are on the wrong side.

The Sorcerer King's Virtuous General

B.B. 1-10 It happened during the war that a certain city was besieged by the armies of his majesty, the city was well defended with thick high walls, ample siege engines, many soldiers with abundant supplies. 1-11 Within that city, there was a man whose name is damned from memory, who was responsible for the education of the children of the city's leaders. 1-12 The man, seeing before him the chance to win favor with his majesty, and perhaps some great reward, lead the small ones placed in his care out of the city and all the way to the ranks of the Sorcerer King's army. 1-13 There he offered the children as hostages to compel the city to yield to save those they cherished from a terrible fate. 1-14 The virtuous general however, stood appalled at such a tactic, and immediately sent a messenger under truce to the city informing them of what happened, assuring them that she had no part in this, and offering a hundred yard truce and the immediate safe return of both their children and the traitor, whom they could do with as they pleased. 1-15 The city's rulers were given back their children, and so moved were they by the justice of the general, that the city surrendered without a fight, yet who truly won and who truly lost? 1-16 The city preserved itself, its children, and its future, the virtuous general preserved her justice and accomplished her end, the only ones who lost, were those who preferred the path of the betrayer. 1-17 Therefore be wary of those whose ends are better served by your own demise, instead seek victory without loss.

B.B. 1-18 The greatest battle is against the self. 1-19 In the battle against the self, it is a struggle against vices, sloth, avarice, selfishness unbounded by restraint, self-deception, cowardice. 1-20 Win this battle and you will have won the world.

B.B. 1-21 There is no sin but that which harms another, therefore weakness is a sin, for it weakens the ability of the individual to protect and provide for their community.

B.B. 1-22 If your lust brings pleasure between you and another who desires you, who is able to offer up their lust in turn, then there is no sin. 1-23 If however, your lust can only bring ruin and harm, and/or it is turned to one who may not freely offer up themselves, then the lust within the self must be fought off and restrained.

B.B. 1-23 Knowledge is half of every conflict, how it may be avoided and how it may be won, seek first to know how to bring peace without war, seek second the knowledge of how to win a war without bloodshed.

B.B. 1-24 Honor the sacrifice of those who lay down their lives for you and your own, they place their bodies between you and war's desolation, in this there is no greater love, and no greater virtue. 1-25 In their sacrifice, and in the honoring of it, is the spirit of god.

B.B. 1-26 If you send the healthy to fight in times of war, know that you will owe a debt to repair their injuries in times of peace.

B.B. 1-27 Ask not of others in times of want or danger, what you will not do yourself.

B.B. 1-28 Forget not that the goal of war is peace, and the goal of peace is to avoid war.

B.B. 1-29 Preserve what can be preserved, but know that sacrifice, however tragic, may be unavoidable. 1-30 The dictates of war is a study in necessity, therefore take care in knowing what must be done.

B.B. 1-31 When you go to attack a town, first offer terms of surrender, if they refuse, and you capture the town, accept all surrenders, harm none who do not strive to harm you. 1-32 Should you come to children, mothers to be, the elderly, or any others who are unable to fight back, secure them with dignity, and let no excess of bloodlust fall on their innocent heads, even if you must remind your comrades at sword point. 1-33 Know that protecting the weak is common sense, and who does this, bears my justice in their heart.

B.B. 1-34 No captive of war, soldier, citizen, foreigner, or fellow, may be owned as property, while prisoners must be held secure, they may not be degraded, nor sold, nor robbed, nor made to endure abuse of any kind.

B.B. 1-35 While prisoners of war may be applied to labor, this labor must be used for sustaining themselves, they may not be compelled to serve against their own.

B.B. 1-36 No woman of your enemy who has fallen into your power should be approached under arms or with their knowledge that you are one who holds power over them, lest fear part their legs instead of want.

B.B. 1-37 If you see among the captives you have taken, one who you desire, court in innocence until the war shall end and all captives are released, for only the free may freely offer themselves, all else is detestable in the eyes of the justice of your god.

B.B. 1-38 Who murders in war is not less a murderer, who rapes in war is not less a rapist, who steals in war is not less a thief. 1-39 Even if they be your own, justice came before them, and the justice of your god would not be justice, nor would his followers be his followers, if injustice reigned.

B.B. 1-40 Who wins his enemies to friendship is the greatest servant of god.

An Encounter with the Virtuous Commander

B.B. 1-41 In the course of war it happened that a famous commander came across a river within the Roble Holy Kingdom's southern region, at this river there were a great many refugees fleeing the certainty of revenge for the death of a great hero of the armies of the Sorcerer King. 1-42 This commander rode on undead horses, and with her flying column, she quickly caught up to what she had expected to be the army of her enemy. 1-43 She found instead that the army of her enemy had abandoned the civilians for the sake of speed and broken the bridge behind them so that the King's forces could not easily cross, stranding the people between the death by water and death by steel. 1-44 When this commander found the wailing lamentations of women clutching children to breast, old men and old women wielding mattocks and desperate to buy their young ones one more moment of life, the virtuous general halted the charge and approached from horseback. 1-45 This threw off their expectations and when they revealed what had happened, she told the citizens that they could ride on the backs of their horses with her soldiers, and thus cross safely, if slowly, to the other side, and from there they could scatter to what villages they could settle in without fear until the conflict came to a close. 1-46 Though the army fled for one more day as the virtuous commander ferried the people across, this virtue won them a hundred villages as the reputation of the virtuous commander spread far and wide.

B.B. 1-47 If you trade away your virtues for speed, you will run only to your grave, clasp this firmly to your heart, and you will be called a true servant of god.

B.B. 1-48 After the war is won, peace must be won as well, therefore forgive rivalries that may damage the prize of victory.

B.B. 1-49 Neither victory in battle nor victory in war, dissolve the bonds of family or spouse, the man you have captured has not lost his role as husband by being captured, nor has the woman lost her place as wife with the same. 1-50 Who sullies their bond is no servant of mine.

B.B. 1-51 Your prayers for victory are made by preparing for it.

B.B. 1-52 When you seek victory, do not forget the misery it brings, and balm the wounds of war when the sword is sheathed.

B.B. 1-53 None should be considered weak, for seeking aid when war's bitter fruits are swallowed for too long. 1-54 For just as the strongest may ingest great quantities of poison, but eventually find their limit, so too will war's harvest drain those who bear its burdens.

B.B. 1-55 Those who tend the wounded, you are absolutely forbidden from harming, though too, no soldier may disguise themselves as such in hopes of wreaking havoc by surprise.

B.B. 1-56 Those whose task is to care for the injured, must do so not by tribe or nation, rather they must do so in order of risk to life, if however between two the chances are equal, them that provide care may seek after their own heart.

B.B. 1-57 Do not ruin the many tomorrows, seeking one victory today, if your action will grant you victory but destroy your nation, what have you gained?

B.B. 1-58 Do not lose sight of why you are fighting, many a grand plan has been ruined by going a bridge to far.

B.B. 1-59 The battle for justice is often waged against lies, let him that lies to the court out of greed, share in the penalty of the guilty, let he who lies to the court out of fear, be punished by labor for the common good for not less than one year, not more than five, in accordance with the severity of the crime being concealed.

B.B. 1-60 If anyone lays claim to having been violated sexually by another, the worth of their word will not be counted less by dint of their wealth, their sex, their age, their faith, or their place of origin. 1-61 Witnesses where feasible should be gathered and questioned, accused and accuser may call witnesses, and each shall be allotted one to speak for them. 1-62 If guilt is determined, let the judge set sentence in accordance with the law, with the greater severity being laid against those who have greater power.

B.B. 1-63 Those who have the greater wealth and the greater power, have the greater obligation to set the example of divine justice as revealed by your god, therefore their breach sets a poor example for those over whom they rule, who will emulate them in kind. 1-64 If they offer to surrender up their wealth to their victim and their status revoked by the judge, they may receive instead the penalty offered to the common citizen of average wealth and station, if the victim accepts.

B.B. 1-65 The laws given of your god know no borders, if you travel to a foreign land where thinking being may own other thinking beings, and buy for yourself a slave of any race or species, that slave is automatically free, you may claim recompense from your homeland for the expense incurred by carrying out the will of your god.

B.B. 1-66 You may not withhold the truth of their liberation, though they may choose to follow you, they may not be compelled.

B.B. 1-67 Promises of freedom may not be extorted from slaves in exchange for service. 1-68 Their life is their right, if you are a true servant of your god, you will protect that right, not extort them for what is in truth, already theirs.

B.B. 1-69 Who seeks your terror in life while promising you paradise after death in trade for your submission, is your enemy.

B.B. 1-70 Guilt begins and ends with the guilty, it shall not be visited on those whose guilt is bearing the blood of the one who has done wrong, punish the weak who have done nothing but live, and the wrath of your lord will fall upon you in like manner.

B.B. 1-71 If your enemy does not use places of learning, healing, artifacts of old, cultural landmarks, museums, the homes of their people, or places of worship for purposes of war, then these should be spared your wrath.

B.B. 1-72 In every town you move to openly attack, designate a safe zone that is to be kept free of military use by either side for the sake of the safety of the noncombatants, for know that they too will be your countrymen when you triumph.

B.B. 1-73 If your enemy should break their agreement, and misuse that safety zone for military and military command purposes, those responsible are to be considered criminals of war.

B.B. 1-74 While deception and war were born as twins, ever at one another's side, know that some deceptions, those which prey upon the sense of justice your lord has given unto you, may never be perpetrated. 1-74 These deceptions are to disguise yourself or your soldiers as aid workers, or to hide them or their goods in aid stations meant to preserve life. 1-75 Also forbidden to you is the use of false surrenders for the sake of surprise, for this teaches your enemies to spare none. 1-76 They who accept surrender when it is offered bear the justice of your god within, they who abuse that justice, have embraced weakness, the gravest of sins, the destroyer of all virtues.

B.B. 1-77 When a war is to be waged, convey the will of your lord with respect, even to the vile, for if you are to slay another, or to be slain in turn, courtesy costs nothing.

B.B. 1-78 When conveying the will of your lord before the war begins, there are two things you must do; the first is to offer them one last chance for peace, the second is to convey your rules of war and caution them that if they violate those terms, the god of justice will bring them to judgment.

B.B. 1-79 If they who know not your lord, abide by these terms of war, show leniency even in bringing death by ending it swiftly, for death is a mercy compared to what tortures life may inflict. 1-80 Draw out no suffering beyond necessity and alleviate the suffering of those who do not deserve to suffer.

B.B. 1-80 Burn no farm but those worked by slaves, destroy no wealth but that which is obtained by corruption, the god of justice will not see the honest and the just brought to ruin, yet his wrath and judgment will fall upon the corrupt, the cruel, and the vile, at home in peace and abroad in war, this is a timeless truth.

B.B. 1-81 These are the virtues the god of justice calls you to embrace..and the vices he commands you to avoid:

B.B. 1-82 Pursue Strength… of character, conviction, body, mind, and will. Through strength and the pursuit of it, you grow. Yet do not forget that none are infinite in all things, therefore seek after those who will support you, and aid you in time of need, to strive to be strong alone forever, is to break yourself, and to forget that you too, are part of a family, community, and nation. 1-83 One needs all, and all need one.

B.B. 1-84 Avoid Weakness… Of the same, weakness, the opposite of strength, pulls down the spirit back to its most base state. Against weakness all must battle throughout their lives. To subordinate yourself to weakness is to cast away the justice of your true lord.

B.B. 1-85 Pursue Control… first and foremost over yourself, without control, all other virtues become weaker, and all vices become stronger, who has not conquered himself, is not fit to rule over any other in any way.

B.B. 1-86 Avoid Abandon, wantonness… This selfish sin puts first and foremost lone desire against all things, momentary pleasures in lust, revenge, greed, in this, you lose sight of the justice your god has taught to you, and from this, any wrong may flow like a river in flood, laying waste to all within its reach, including the bearer of this sin.

B.B. 1-87 Pursue Self Respect… This virtue is the foundation for all virtues, for it drives noble ambition, and tells its bearer "I must be worthy…in whatever I choose to do" he who respects himself will not degrade or debase himself by abandoning the justice of the lord, nor will they need to degrade others in the elevation of themselves. This permits the humility of self awareness and drives the desire to improve.

B.B. 1-88 Avoid vanity and false pride… This vice is the supreme abundance of ego, it will degrade the neighbor to make the sin's bearer appear higher, it will find fault with others and not control the self, it will preen and primp to present a facade, but avoid the grime or risks involved in labor that truly brings benefit.

B.B. 1-89 Pursue Courage… To stand when the weak will run, to face recrimination when acting justly as others tell you it is easier not to, to know when you too should withdraw, that victory may be found elsewhere even when those who know not true courage will call you a coward for not dying pointlessly.

B.B. 1-90 Avoid cowardice, and worse, false courage… Cowardice abandons those who could be saved, leaves the innocent to suffer when their suffering can be ended, and does not allow the bearer of this sin to even reflect upon their failings to improve. 1-91 Too, it may lead to false courage, a desire for futile martyrdom, exaggerated self-sacrifice to make what is simple, hard, for the sake of self-glorification, the true servant of the god of justice knows that to live humbly in dignity and labor for just cause, is far more valuable than a blooded martyr dying for their vainglorious ego.

B.B. 1-92 The god of justice calls for moderation in temperament in war and in peace, level heads make good decisions, hot heads make rash decisions, virtuous leaders make just decisions, viceful leaders make poor or selfish decisions.

B.B. 1-93 The warrior is the servant of the people, the people servants of one another, for each one is the keeper of the other, and each is brother or sister to their neighbor. 1-94 Therefore a fight between neighboring nations is a tragic battle between brothers. 1-94 Therefore it should be fought, if it is to be fought at all, with an eye towards ending embittered conditions forever, that the harmony and peace the god of justice values, may be quickly restored.

B.B. 1-95 In the end of war, offer just terms of peace, that you do not sow the seeds of future conflict.

B.B. 1-96 If in the fields of war, you sow the seeds of peace, you will harvest prosperity.

B.B. 1-97 If in the fields of war, you sow the seeds of future war, you will harvest poverty and privation.

B.B. 1-98 Acknowledge the virtues of your enemies, where they have them, for even those who must fight, may become brothers and sisters in peace, if mutual honor and respect is accorded between the two.

B.B. 1-99 Never learn to love war, always despise it, yet never be unwilling to do what must be done, to preserve the world you value and protect those who share it with you.

B.B. 1-100 Never forget that all are called to account for their deeds, to their consciences and their communities and to their god, none may stand before a judge and say 'I did as I was commanded' as if the command makes the unjust order into a just one; you are an agent of justice, never accept that you are not responsible, never think you have no choice, always remember that there are consequences… and none are saved from the consequences of their freely made choices.


	15. A Wife's Wrath & A Wife's Aftermath

_...Arwintar...Synod…_

As Ainz finished reciting from his sacred text, the real challenge began. "While these recitations of your text tell us your laws, they do not tell us that you are a god." A stern voiced priest said boldly.

"True." Ainz said, drawing murmurs of surprise from the tiers of seats. "But what would?" Ainz asked. "I have shown many times that I am vastly more powerful than the old gods, I have seen the transcripts where Neia pointed out how my accomplishments surpass their own many times over, so let me further my question by asking… why do you worship the six, or the four such as it were, as gods?"

Silence fell, and a priest, one Ainz recognized as a member of the Theocracy who had been freed as guiltless in the trials after the war. "Because the six gods chose and protected humanity against eradication."

Nods were everywhere.

"A truthful answer, and, I suppose as good a reason as any." Ainz said politely, he walked slowly, majestically about the circle in the center, "Have I not also done the same?" He asked.

Stunned silence answered him. "Before you respond," he said as he raised one skeletal finger, "consider this. I did not choose humanity alone, but all the honest and just of the world, has it not been made clear over the course of all of this, that all who abide by the social contract are good servants to my will. You enjoyed your time off in this city, in that time you had to have seen elves and dwarves, trolls and giants, perhaps even a dragon or two, you must surely have seen many such beings if you were out and about. Further, some of you come from the Draconic province, others from Roble, others from Re-Estize, others from the former Theocracy, others from the elf kingdom, still more are from here, you have come to this place from lands I have long ruled and lands I newly rule, and wheresoever I rule, have you failed to see not only humans prospering, but all others as well?" He asked pointedly.

"In the way of the old gods, humanity was always at risk, wasn't it? Wasn't it?" He asked twice for emphasis, in a voice that demanded the truth be spoken.

"It… was." A priest answered.

"Raise your hand if you deny his answer." Ainz said and pointed to the one who spoke.

No hands went up.

"Is humanity at risk now?" He asked. "Raise your hand if you can name a threat to your lives from inside or outside of my borders."

Silence greeted him again. "If you argue as some do, that the basis for the worship of the six is that they saved humanity and protected it, then on that basis, I stand far beyond them."

"You also killed many of us." A priest said harshly.

"I don't deny that." Ainz said, "Yet can you name a time I did not offer humans who opposed me, a chance to save their lives, to avoid my wrath and live in peace? Did I not offer the King of Re-Estize a chance to yield peacefully? Did I not offer peace to the Slane Theocracy? Did I not offer the kindest terms for war that this world has ever seen, such that few would die if those terms were kept? And will anyone deny that the conduct of those who called themselves my enemies, has made them the destroyers of human lives?"

His retort was electric, but there were uncertain looks traded among some of those present. He caught those looks, "Oh, I see some of you are unaware of the atrocities perpetrated by the Slane Theocracy and their allies during the course of the war. Well I have come prepared for that. I call for a two hour recess for you to read the transcripts of the trials, the witness statements, and if necessary, I will bring survivors here to speak to you as to just what the defenders of the six gods did and were willing to do in the name of promoting their beliefs. Just one word of warning." He said, and looks turned fearful, as they wondered if he was about to threaten their lives.

"Keep a bucket handy. If you are not as vile as they, you will be sickened by what you will read." He said, and drew a stack of documents from his pocket dimension, and handed them to a servant who began to walk the tiers one by one to hand out stacks to be passed down. The vote for a recess passed with ease, and it was so. Few left their seats to read in private, most remained where they were, but Ainz chose to walk out, and he found Leinas standing like a statue with sword drawn and point to the stone, her eyes alert and watchful for any possible threat, when he emerged and stepped in front of her, only then did her posture change.

"Your Majesty." She said with reverence. "How did they receive you?" She asked.

"Well enough." He replied, "There is a two hour recess for them to review past events, I doubt all will believe what they read, but I also doubt they will have the will to demand witnesses either." He added.

"Why is that, sire?" She asked as she fell into step beside him as he walked away.

"Because when horrors like that are disbelieved, very often that disbelief is a lie even to themselves, at their core they will know it to be truth, and not have the courage to truly face it by listening to the victims. Some will deny what stands in front of their eyes, we could take them to the ruins of Wenmark and show the horror of the pits, we could take them to the brothels that still stand, and they would deny the bloodstains before their eyes, they could look at the graves and dig up the many bodies, and say they died by something else. To those committed to denial, no evidence of atrocity is enough, not even when they look it square in the eye. Even if we brought those imprisoned still to tell them what was done, what they themselves perpetrated, the denier will not allow themselves to believe." Ainz said with a soft disgust in his voice.

"How do you know that, Your Majesty?" Leinas asked in a hushed and profoundly disturbed voice.

"I have seen it before, the place my servants call, 'First World' where I once was, had such atrocities happen, some worse than any that have happened here, though not for lack of trying on the part of those we defeated. No matter how much was recorded, how much evidence was presented, what those who perpetrated their atrocities admitted to, there were always those who were willing to deny what was before their eyes, eager to lie to themselves because they did not wish it to be so." Ainz said with a dismissive shake of his head.

"I-I see." Leinas said unhappily. "Where do we go now?" She asked, not caring for the subject.

"Nowhere, we will simply stroll for a bit, though if you have not eaten, we can pause for that if you like." He said patiently.

"If it is your will." Leinas replied dutifully.

"Leinas." The Sorcerer King said in a voice of gentle rebuke.

"I… am getting hungry, yes, Your Majesty." She said as her stomach emitted a very loud growl.

Ainz chuckled a bit as he declared, "We will pause at the first establishment."

"Thank you, sire." She replied gratefully.

Five minutes before the end of the two hour mark, Ainz was again approaching the door, as Leinas took her place beside it, she whispered softly, "Thank you, my lord."

He gave her an acknowledging look as he walked back in. As he took his place at the center, he looked at the faces of the priests and priestesses of the old gods. There were distressed and distraught faces, some were resigned, many were disgusted, others were horrified, some were hard as stone with denial. The lengths to which the Slane Theocracy had gone to, not to mention some of their allies such as those fanatics led by the fallen paladin, Remedios Custodio, was most well known among veterans and survivors who were first hand witnesses or survivors. The atrocities of Wenmark were known chiefly by elves and by the hundred of Neia's elites. However, no public report had yet been disseminated as it was only just recently completed and compiled. Now they were looking at it, and the result was just what Ainz had intended it to be.

"I see you have all been reading. If any of you desire confirmation of these things, we can travel to where the bodies rest and once there, I will give you shovels, you can dig them up yourselves if you do not believe me. I can call witnesses who survived, I can call those who still live who perpetrated their crimes and compel them to speak the truth to your satisfaction. Let any who dares to doubt the truth of what I say, speak now or forever withhold their denial." Ainz' words were hard as adamantite, inviting anyone to dissent from his report. There were no takers.

"So now we come back to the question again," Ainz paused before continuing. "Have I not done all the old gods did, and more, and done so without setting humanity against their neighbors? Who will deny it? Who will deny the justice of my actions?" He asked.

Again, there were no takers.

"Now I will say something else to you, I will tell you what I told Neia Baraja, and you may take this as you wish." He said in a more gentle, accommodating voice.

"The truth is, your decision here means little." He said, and the tone of silence went from curious, to cold.

"Before you reject that statement, hear the rest." He said as he added, "Those of you who vote against me on the final day, will you begin to call me god because your peers vote for it? Or will you deny me that in your hearts until the very end of your life?" He asked, and the various priests looked to one another questioningly.

"By contrast, those of you who vote in favor of confirming my status, you who are my devoted followers, will you turn from me if the vote goes in the opposing direction?" He asked rhetorically.

Ainz held his arms up above his head and opened them as if to embrace them all. "The truth is, that in the end what you vote for is only to influence those who believe 'you', those who serve will continue, those who deny will also continue, I have no intention of wiping out my doubters by force, what manner of god would be threatened by a mortal's lack of belief? I will of course crush those who attempt to harm their neighbors on this matter, no matter which side they be on, because a god that does nothing is no different than a god that does not exist, and what use is a god who would tolerate such behavior?" He asked, casting his rhetoric to attentive ears.

"The way in which you vote on this matter may change the course of history and shape the future in many ways. However, your acceptance or rejection is more your own than anything. Those who believe, will not change, those who deny, will also not likely change. The true significance of this vote is not the question of my deification, the true significance is whether you accept these changing times, or cling to a past that, whatever its virtues might have been, simply no longer works. You may make the future easier, or harder by your choice, but the wheel of time will roll on, whether you are within the wheel, or under it, is up to you." He said, his noble voice carrying to the very top of the tiers of the building.

Questions peppered him for another two hours after that, but he saw the weariness begin to hit them as the day wore on, and finally the session came to a close, and Ainz walked out. He and Leinas were the first to depart, and just as he did so, much to his surprise, he received a message. He paused, and Leinas stopped to wait on him, watching expectantly as he answered Skana.

_…Outside the Poison Maker's Home..._

"Smart move." Skana said with venom in her voice. She put the tip of her sword to the woman's lips, and pushed the end of her sword just a little further, two small cuts appeared where the razor sharp edges touched, and the eyes of her captive began to widen with ever greater terror. "But speak that way to me again, and you'll lose those pretty lips, don't forget bitch, I hold you heavily responsible for what happened to my wife, the only reason you're not begging for death right now is that you're not the only one."

The poisoner swallowed hard her breathing became heavy, deep, and rapid, as if she'd run for miles or finished a marathon session of lovemaking.

Her eyes went downcast and she nodded fearfully. "I didn't know who it was for." She said softly.

"Would it have mattered?" Skana asked in a hateful voice.

She was silent.

"You are a smart one, you're not stupid enough to lie to me." Skana said and pulled her sword back ever so slightly.

"Now, who?" The Black Justice vice commander asked.

"There's a nobleman, lives in Kami Miyako. He's bought from me before. I don't, I don't know what he does with it, and I don't know if he works with anyone else or if he acts alone, I swear, but he's the only really rich client I have, I usually go through a bandit named Burl, he might know more…" She was speaking rapidly, a mile a minute, but she froze when Skana shook her head.

"He didn't, he's the one who led me to you, how do you think I found this place?" Skana asked with a casual wave of her hand, "You did do a great job of hiding yourself, I'll give you that much. He traded your security for his continued life, you really shouldn't have given out your location to people with no sense of loyalty." She added with a hint of rebuke.

She cursed from her place on the ground. "I'll kill that asshole."

"Don't worry about that, he's a lot worse off alive than dead." Skana said with a dangerous little smile on her face. "He'll be wishing he was dead for the rest of his life, you though… well, I'd like to submit you to the same fate." Skana said and put her sword to the woman's throat. "Nobody knows better how to make a woman suffer, than another woman, and there are so many, many things I'd like to do to you for your part in what was done to my wife, and to myself." Skana's voice had no hint of mercy in it, only a sea of hatred whose waves broke upon the shore of the poisoner's courage and shattered it to pieces. A foul smell filled the air.

"But…" Skana said and pulled back her blade again, "I'm a loyal servant of his majesty, and your… skills might serve him better. Burl was useless trash, but you might find a way to spend your life atoning for what you did, and from what I hear the… baptism into his service for scum like you, is almost as good as any revenge I might take." Skana's voice was hateful, but reflective. "Now, tell me his name and where he lives, and we can end this little exchange."

"Count Medif… his name is Count Medif." She said as she looked at the ground. The girl was broken, Skana could tell, those pretty hazel eyes went dull with defeat. "He lives in what is left of the noble district, I don't know exactly what estate, but I know he lives there." She said, her body was starting to shake. "Please… don't hurt me… I'm just doing a job…"

"Then call this a hostile takeover of your business." Skana said viciously. "Now... what else can you tell me about him?" She asked.

"He's… connected. Ties with the bandits in the woods here, most of his guards are former bandits, I think he's worked with Zuranon in the past, given some of the things he's bought from me, but I don't know for sure. He's also… kind of fat." She said with a hint of disgust.

"Fat? While living in Kami Miyako these days?" Skana asked in almost disbelief.

"Yes, don't ask me how." She replied. "But at least he'll stand out."

"There is that." Skana said casually. "That everything?" She asked the desperate woman.

"It is." She said, barely getting the words out.

"Good, by the way, what's your name, I want to remember it." Skana said.

The woman went silent. The tip of the sword was cutting her lip again a moment later.

"Numenev… my name is Numenev." She whimpered.

Skana looked down at her with greater hatred than she'd ever felt in her life, she pushed the tip of the sword down, Numenev's eyes widened in fear, her mouth opened just so the sword would stop cutting her lips, she felt the metal scraping over her teeth, she was shaking her head, her body was trembling uncontrollably, the sword cut into her tongue, tears were falling from dull hazel eyes, muffled pleas were coming from her as the sword went closer to the back of her throat.

"I want to… god how I want to… you don't deserve life, you almost took everything from me… twice. You… you… YOU!" Skana shrieked as tears came down her cheek and she braced her arm as if she was about to thrust the sword the rest of the way and finish the trash off, but she stopped.

"No. Not yet. One day maybe, but not yet, besides, if anyone should get you, it should be Neia, you should belong to her before you do to me." Skana said as she breathed as hard as Numenev for a few moments. The sword pulled out, and she sheathed the blade.

She rarely messaged the Sorcerer King, but this once, this once she thought it appropriate, so she drew out the requisite scrolls and connected to him. "Your Majesty, I've caught the one who made the poison that killed me, and almost killed your pope, if it pleases you, I will send her through a gate right now."

"She's alive?" The Sorcerer King asked in surprise.

"She is. I thought she might serve better atoning for her wrongs by putting her skills to use in your service… after a proper baptism." Skana said casually.

A moment later the Sorcerer King replied, "You made a good decision, her baptism will be today, a gate will be opened immediately, send her through, and let Neuronist receive her."

"I would be pleased and honored to do so, sire." Skana said joyfully.

Numenev was silent and terrified, the woman standing over her seemed beyond insane with rage a moment ago, yet now she was casual, even happy. Poisoner or not, young or not, she wasn't stupid, she knew this did not bode well for her. She stared hesitantly at the whorling hole that appeared in front of them and grunted when Skana picked her up by her bonds, straining her bound limbs painfully backwards, and tossed her through the hole like she was a sack of potatoes.

Skana walked away with a song in her heart, this was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. There was… probably only one more to go, and then, then she could say her wife was as safe as she could ever be, the last of the guilty would suffer. She wondered idly if he was a front for someone else, but she doubted it, a Count was fairly highly placed, most of the nobles had been purged, the fact that this one hadn't been, meant he'd managed to avoid standing out in any way in the Slane Theocracy's hierarchy of rule, or evidently running afoul of the Sorcerer King… or he was relatively new to his title. There was time enough to ask the question of 'why' later.

Getting to the city took a few hours, but the sense of urgency Skana had felt since Neia's suicide attempt had at least eased with the comfortable understanding that the one who had almost stolen her life away was close at hand.

As she walked back, her mind went over and over the events of the recent past, she started second guessing everything Neia had said to her for months, looking for hidden meanings, signs, indications that she was thinking of or even planning out how to end her life. Now with the benefit of hindsight she could see, she thought, more clearly. The almost desperate sexual embrace, the heavy drinking, the frenzy of excess in her attempts at finding or expressing happiness of any kind. It all masked what lay beneath, what was truly going on. Now with Neia's near death at her own hand, the mask was taken off, and wave after wave of guilt washed over Skana's soul.

She remembered the Sorcerer King's words, that 'she hadn't failed' her wife, but for all her trust in his majesty, even he could not wipe away how she felt.

_...Illyana's House…_

Neia sat on the grass and stretched out her legs, it was exactly as the elven nurse had said, a paradise. Everything was heavenly, she felt almost completely at peace. There were others in the same area, but they too were lost in their own thoughts. Some lay on the grass, clearly asleep, some had their heads in the lap of a young woman, others she saw were being… of all things, 'cuddled' by small pups.

Neia however, was comfortable alone, and let herself get lost in the scenery, nothing was going to disturb her in this place, not even her memories. She was so lost in the moment that she didn't feel time slip by, nor did the top tier fighter even notice the approach of Pestonya, who had the sense to walk the long way around and appear in front of her.

Neia saw the dog woman approach, she'd seen her before, and she'd heard of her work on the orphanages in Re-Estize, and as such this had favorably disposed Neia towards the odd looking woman before they officially met. Still, she didn't feel the need to say anything yet.

Pestonya however, was another matter. She crouched down near to Neia, staying just a little to the left of her so as not to obstruct the warrior woman's view. "You are well here? Comfortable? -woof"

Neia nodded a little anxiously. "Yes, thank you… this is so wonderful, I really have no words…" She trailed off.

"I'm glad, and you're welcome, you have done so much for my lord, I wish I could do more for you. -woof." Pestonya replied.

Neia didn't deny it, she was no fan of false modesty and was not unaware of her own significance to the course of events, even if she had trouble sometimes accepting it.

"I did what had to be done." She replied softly.

"I know. -woof" Pestonya said.

"I." Neia began, then stopped cold.

Pestonya moved to sit beside her.

"Would you like to lie down? -woof" Pestonya asked and tapped her lap gently.

Neia blushed. "I… I've never lain like that except with my wife." She said.

Pestonya's lips did not move like a human's would, but Neia could feel the gentle smile in her demeanor.

"It'll be alright, I just want you to be comfortable. -woof" Pestonya replied.

Neia was reluctant, but slowly laid herself down on her side and rested her head on Pestonya's thigh. The dog woman gently stroked her hair and face but said nothing.

"Her house is… truly beautiful." Neia said softly, repeating her earlier praise.

"As it should be. -woof." Pestonya replied. "Can you tell me about her? -woof"

Neia was silent for a long time. "I should have killed her." Neia said at last.

She didn't feel any judgement coming off of the dog woman at her brutal words, and after a while she felt comfortable enough to say more. "She asked me to, us to do it. Begged for us to kill her even. Got down on her knees and begged us to kill her." Neia said softly. "CZ took out her weapon, she put it to Illyana's head, she was about to use it. I stopped her. I stopped CZ from killing Illyana." Neia's voice cracked and she couldn't see through her blurry eyes.

"I thought I could do anything, endure anything, I promised her a future that she'd fall in love with, that she'd have a life, I promised her that… I promised her and came up with a plan so that she wouldn't suffer anymore until we could spring the escape. Everything was going to work out. Instead… instead… instead…" Neia trailed off and as Pestonya drew her arms around the legendary woman's head and drew her close, all Neia could do was bury her face in the folds of cloth and embrace and soak it in her wet remorse and regret.

It would be a long time before Pestonya said a word.

**AN: -End Chapter-(Thoughts?)**


	16. Rats Beneath the Red Room

**The Synod: Book of Black Justice**

**Chapter 16**

**Written by: AtheistBasementDragon**

**Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots**

**AN: Well it has been awhile since I posted to this one, what with the focus on the siege of Prart, and... yeah this one will go on hold again eventually until God Rising expands in order to avoid spoilers, but as it is I can safely continue it, there are stories in this that... quite frankly I want to tell, so with that in mind, enjoy a double release day with this chapter AND a new story 'Blood in the Streets' sorry about the delay, coursework has been eating me alive and is not leaving me much time, but only a few more days and I'll be back to a more rapid release, I owe a few more days of double releases still, and I'll meet those if it kills me. :) In the meantime, enjoy!**

_...Kami Miyako…_

Lakyus and CZ were not slow by any stretch of the imagination, yet every step felt like it was slogging through a thick swamp or slowed by molasses. They rushed as fast as they could, though Lakyus herself was quite convinced that CZ was taking it easy on herself just to hold pace with Lakyus.

It wasn't until they reached a juncture and Lakyus paused to get her bearings that CZ spoke up. "Why the rush?" She asked.

"Because Vepyr gave us three names to work with, and I want to find our target before Skana does." Lakyus answered, breathing hard from the heavy pace to which she had subjected herself.

"Why?" CZ asked.

"Because I got to thinking about things, and Skana was far too calm before, the only real indication of raw unbridled rage was her desire to take the investigation portion that had a high likelihood of fighting. My first thought was that it was just to vent her frustration, but I didn't think about what she'd do if she was successful and got a name before us. You know what happened here in the last days of the war, what happened to Neia. Neia 'feels' things, but Skana avoids dealing with feelings until they come crashing down like a mountain."

"And?" CZ asked.

"And I fear that finding the responsible party will be that trigger." Lakyus said as she turned and rushed down another ruined street that lead to the noble district Vepyr had pointed them towards.

"I don't understand." CZ said with the casual indifference of her common tone, only having served alongside her let Lakyus detect a hint of concern.

"If Skana gets… triggered, how far do you think she'll go? She 'hates' the Slane Theocracy for what they did to her wife, and this place is the last remnants of it. The poisoner and the person who bought it from her may be too much. She might kill both to start with, and while I could live with that, but what if she doesn't stop? What if she suffers a breakdown and turns her hate on the city itself? Everybody with any real combat power in this city died when the siege ended, if she goes on a killing spree…" Lakyus let the thought hang there, she could see CZ running through the various outcomes.

The war was over, it would be murdering the Sorcerer King's subjects, whether they thought of themselves as such or not, he would have no choice but to punish her, severely. If that happened and Neia learned of it, how would she respond, fresh off an attempt on her own life, to find her wife had gone on a rage-fueled killing spree of… more or less innocent civilians? The two women shook their heads. Neia was fragile now, she wouldn't get over that.

CZ grabbed the note out of Lakyus's hands and quickly read it, then handed it back while the adamantite adventurer looked at her in surprise. "I do the first, you do the second, we meet at the third if both fail." It was a rare occasion for CZ to speak more than three or four words, and it showed the gravity she'd given to the matter at hand as Lakyus had explained it.

"Agreed." Lakyus said, they ran as hard as they could and CZ quickly left Lakyus far behind, turning right down a road that Lakyus would turn left at. When Lakyus reached her destination, she wasted no time. She checked briefly to see that the outside looked as it was described and just as promised, there was a nameplate on the remains of a wall with a small damaged gate with bent, broken iron bars that might have once been beautifully shaped and quite decorative.

At a guess, she figured it took fire from a siege weapon, if the holes in the wall and gouges in the once fine road were any indication. The gate was secured, not that it mattered. Lakyus jumped over the gate and went straight to the door. She pounded on it, almost hard enough to break it down. "Open the door!" She demanded.

"Go away!" A voice shouted from within.

"I'm not asking you, I am ordering you! Open… the damn… door… NOW!" Lakyus snarled out.

"And I'm saying no!" The voice, rough and largely drunk, replied. "Now go away!" The man who owned the voice added in annoyance.

"Fine!" Lakyus shouted, and then she kicked the door open.

"What the hell?!" A drunken man said, swaying on his feet as he gawked at the shattered entrance, his outburst stopped when he saw the beautiful blond adventurer, and his mouth closed with an audible 'pop' when her large black sword came out and was leveled at him as she approached.

"You have one chance and only one chance." Lakyus said with eyes narrow enough to have made Neia look wide-eyed. "Present to me the perfume bottle made by Vepyr. If you have it, you get to live and I'll pay for the repairs on your door."

The person looking at her was a broken looking old man, thin, not in the best of health, whatever he had been before now, he had to have been better than this, but Lakyus had no time for sympathy, not now. His gray beard and wrinkled face spoke of many troubles over many days, and his glassy eyes suggested he'd had a great deal to drink, given the hour of the day, the first thought Lakyus had was that she hadn't just caught him at a bad time, she'd caught him at his normal life as it now was.

"Ah don't…" He began, and she drew closer, fear seemed to give him a sense of clarity as his body briefly stopped swaying. The demon sword was at his neck. Mentally, Lakyus fought the urge to tremble, since she'd joined with the Sorcerer King she had faced off against and put down humans. But this was different she was looking at a pathetic drunk, a ruin of a man in the ruins of a city, at any other time she'd be trying to help him. Not… not this.

Her eyes swept the room, it was a virtual dump, servants had obviously long vanished from the household, and that gave her some indication of who had been attending him here. That thought eased her conscience somewhat as he began to stagger toward the steps and led her up to the next floor. A few minutes later he came to a door. "Please b-be quiet, mah waf esh schleeping." He stammered, and opened the door gently, she followed after him, keeping the sword pointed to his back.

She entered, and was immediately struck by the heavy smell of perfume, she glanced around the room and saw why as he walked past the bed. There was indeed a woman there, but she was not sleeping. She was dead, very, very dead and she clearly had been so for months. Her body was in a deep state of decay. For a moment Lakyus almost killed the ruin of a lord, she almost pushed it into his back, but a moment later she felt a great swell of pity rise in her breast as she realized he could not have killed her.

The body had been pierced through and through by a large arrow, the sort used by siege weapons. The picture formed in her mind, she'd gone to fight, or so she assumed given that the corpse still wore light armor of the sort that some minor nobles used, she'd died, her body had been returned to him, and he had fallen into madness. However, with the chaos, nobody noticed he hadn't seen to the burial, he had simply slipped deeper and deeper into madness and drunkenness from the days of chaos down to the present.

The drunken old man went to the dresser near the bed and took a bottle out of a drawer, he brought it over to Lakyus and held it out. He saw that she was looking at his 'sleeping' wife.

It made him smile, "Shee sho beautiful, eben sleeping." He said happily, "Donsha think so?" He slurred out.

Lakyus felt her heart break for him, she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth, "I have… never seen a woman like her before."

"Shank you." He said in a barely audible voice, "She sheems to like thish perfume, sho I buy it shometimes for her, do you need sha bottle?" He asked in a fragile, broken voice.

Lakyus shook her head. "No, I am trying to find someone who should have it, but does not. Forgive me for my actions, it is an urgent matter, when your wife awakens, pass on my praise, I… will have someone come to repair the damages I caused." She said delicately.

He nodded numbly as he put the bottle back. "'Kay… ah, can we go, leter shleep." He asked, and Lakyus put away her sword and backed out of the room.

He followed after, closing the door gently as if he feared to wake his wife from what was obviously her eternal rest.

Lakyus rushed out the door as he turned his back to her, whispering to the bedroom, "I'll be back to check on you again in an hour dear, you sleep as long as you need to, OK…?"

The adamantite adventurer shuddered as she left the house and messaged CZ. "Not here, any luck?"

"None here." CZ replied.

"Meet you at the third." Lakyus replied.

"Right." CZ answered.

Lakyus tried to message Skana, but got no answer.

_...Kami Miyako...Count Medif's residence..._

Skana was filled with wrath as the name slipped from poisoned tongue. She had nearly killed the woman, she had felt the fear and trembling of her victim to be as the sword of the Vice Commander split the poisoner's lip and sliced open her tongue, the muffled desperate whimper… was beautiful. It was only the iron discipline and the knowledge that Numenev would soon be suffering worse, that kept back the urge for blood, but hatred was rising fast. When she'd disposed of the woman through the portal, she'd gone straight for the noble district.

As she'd made her way there, she enjoyed the contemplation of the poisoner's suffering. Her one green eye's hatred burned bright enough, that a glance kept the few people out in public from accosting the well dressed woman for anything. Though if she'd thought of it for a moment, it might have been the burning in her one green eye, it was a recognizable feature and more than one probably guessed who she was, if not why she was there.

Finding Count Medif's residence had been easy, find the noble district, look for a house that wasn't a shit pile, check the plate at the front. For a moment she almost kicked down the gate and charged the door, but a moment's professional thought came to mind, if he weren't there and came home, he'd know something was wrong and might go to ground.

So instead she jumped over the gate and then sought an open window. The manor was large, not in the best shape compared to what it must have been in prewar times, but it was far and away better off than any other she'd seen since passing through the ruined entryway to the city.

However, getting in was still easy, she quickly but quietly walked around the side of the house and searched for a window, she then jammed her sword between the sill and the sliding portion and pried it up, her adamantite blade did not threaten to bend under the downward pressure she applied. The window was another matter, but she did her best to avoid making much noise. When she had it up, she went in and closed it down behind her. A close examination would show a breach, but she had no intention of allowing for that opportunity.

She found herself in a well decorated study, there were plenty of books, a comfortable red leather chair. The rug was the same shade of red, Skana could not help but notice that most of the room had a 'blood' red theme to it. It made her uneasy, even the books had mostly red covers, she approached and pulled one from the shelf and flipped it open.

To her surprise the pages were blank, she replaced it and pulled another, again blank pages. Twice more she repeated the action, the titles were there, and they were common enough, but the books themselves had no evident content. Suspicion grew and the corners of her mouth turned down in a small frown.

'It's for show.' Skana thought as she looked around. She activated her sensory martial arts and listened with care, there was movement upstairs, she could hear a single pair of feet. However she could also hear movement down below. She paused as the message from Lakyus came in, she did not bother to respond to it, there was something she wanted to do first.

She looked around the floor of the room. Were it not placed in the house where it was, she would have looked for the usual cliche of the sliding bookshelf. This however, suggested something else, especially with the sounds below, she moved the chair out of the way and then lifted the rug. It appeared to be stone just like the rest, but 'knowing' as she did that others were there… her mind kicked into overdrive and she crouched down in that spot. She slid her hands all over it until she felt a 'tiny' difference in the flow of the stone, a very small gap, negligible unless one knew where to look.

She took out her sword and looked closely at the little gap, then wedged her blade in, biting her lip as she did so. It 'caught' and she pried the stone up, it wasn't a large stone, far from it, it was only slightly thicker than her smallest finger. When it came up she laid it aside, it was easy to then remove the others, and there, just as she suspected, was a trap door.

She raised that up and found a set of steps. She smiled a predatory smile as she held her sword out in front of her. A darkness lay below that rivaled that which lay within her heart. She needed no light, not for this, and so she lit none. Black Justice scouts had to operate in any conditions, and front liners had to be ready to fight in a moonless night as well as broad daylight.

She removed her glove from the empty hand and stored it, then step by step she worked her way down the gap, her companions would be along soon, but this was 'her' time. The poisoner was a mere supplier, but here were people who orchestrated everything, they were worse.

Her thoughts turned to the demoness, 'I wonder if I can make these suffer enough that she would cringe?' She thought with vicious satisfaction. The stairs were not long ones, and she soon passed under the ceiling, one hand was kept out a few inches in front of her blade. She remembered Cocytus's instructions. "In the darkness, even night vision may be of limited use to you, never underestimate the power of touch, your hands are as good as your eyes."

She passed down a long hallway that ran well under the house, but at its end there stood a door with a faint hint of light showing beneath it, the way it persisted suggested the use of continual light enchantments. She took a deep breath and listened when she reached the door, muffled words reached her, she counted the voices. Five. Five would be a start.

She then sheathed her sword and drew her bow. She nocked an arrow, then leaned back and kicked the door right next to its handle. Enhanced by her martial abilities, the door flew in as if blown open by a strong wind. She needed not even a second to loose her arrow at her first target. It took him in the thigh, sending him writhing to the ground.

The second arrow took his companion in the same place. She was already in before she soundlessly dropped the third with an arrow in the kidney. The bow was stowed away and her sword was out as she neared the other two. These had more time to respond. The first tried to launch a fireball at her, only for her to dive out of the way at a forward angle while continuing to close the distance. Her sword flashed left and right then back again less than a foot from her, opening up three deep wounds in his gut. She then kicked him back and used the rear momentum to launch herself towards the fifth, a lightning spell came towards her. Ironically his rapid response was what caused him to miss and strike his wounded colleague instead. She danced through the air, predicting the line of his strikes by watching his hands, and within a few failed strikes she was close.

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward directly into the tip of her sword, running it through his stomach and out his back. They froze there in that half embrace, her shoulder pressed against his chest as she leaned in towards his ear. "You shouldn't have tried to kill my wife motherfucker." His eyes widened as he realized just who had drawn down upon him.

Enhanced by strengthening arts, she rotated her body in one direction while pushing her free hand against his shoulder in the opposite direction. The sword severed his spine, and as he screamed in pain, his upper and lower halves were partially severed, before he fell to the stone floor and reached with his hands to desperately grab his lower half and 'pull' it back together.

The cries of the remaining three who still lived were music to her ears. Upstairs she could hear noise, multiple footsteps. Fast ones, they were fading, going farther away.

"Where are you?" Lakyus's message reached her.

"Busy taking care of a rat infestation." Skana replied, wishing idly that the screams of her victims could be carried as well by the message spell.

She approached a writhing man on the floor who was desperately trying to get the arrow out of his thigh, but… he was an idiot, he was trying to 'pull' it back out the way it had gone in. Skana wanted to laugh, but she paused to take in more of the way her targets were dressed. They wore dark robes with various designs sewn in red thread, the men themselves were clean cut and physically fit, a rare enough thing in Kami Miyako by recent standards.

As her shadow loomed over him, dancing by the slow pulse of the continual light enchanted stone, he looked up, his screams had become sobs of almost childlike pain.

Skana held her sword out, and with a little flick as he looked up at her, his left eye was gone. His hand went up to the eye and he yowled like an injured cat. "Oops, I guess you should have surrendered." She said.

As he was still trying to comprehend what was happening, his other eye was taken the same way. He tried to scramble back, blind and desperate, there was no hope for him. "Oh I guess you still are looking for a weapon to fight back with, stubborn." She said sarcastically, and pushed her sword into his mouth and out the back, he stopped scrambling.

The remaining two survivors were looking at her with absolute horror, "We surrender!" They howled out in pain.

"Can you guess who I am?" She asked. The first one whom she had largely cut in half had stopped moving.

"Are you in the house?" Lakyus asked via message, "We've got the one we're looking for." Skana sighed reluctantly.

"Basement. Find the red room." Skana replied abruptly and turned her attention back to the two injured survivors who were trying desperately to stop the flow of blood.

"No, I don't know!" The first man cried desperately, he was young, perhaps in his early twenties, with thick dark hair and frightened brown eyes that the hood of his robe revealed when it fell back.

"Gah…" The second groaned as he managed to pull the arrow out the rest of the way it had come in and cast it aside. "I… can guess."

Skana held the sword up to his eye, he was older, perhaps in his forties, salt and pepper hair and hazel eyes. "Make it a good guess." She said viciously.

"The one eye is a dead giveaway, you're the wife of Neia Baraja. I knew this was a bad idea." He said sullenly.

"Good guess." She said. "My friends are upstairs, they've captured Count Medif, I assume he's in charge?" She asked.

The older man nodded slowly. "Sort of, this was his idea after all, he's got most of the contacts. This couldn't have worked without him. But now that Neia is dead by poison, I expect our will is done all the same."

Skana's entire body trembled with rage, but she decided to play along, she could hear the steps above her, they would find the basement soon.

"What objective was it, why did you want her life? Was it revenge over what happened here at Kami Miyako? Why did my wife have to die?" Skana asked furiously.

The younger man quickly snapped out, "Don't tell her, you'll ruin everything!"

Skana flashed over to him and quickly deprived him of both of his eyes. "I guess he shouldn't have resisted." She said grimly, and strolled back to the older counterpart as the wounded blind man screamed and rolled in agony on the floor clutching at his face.

The older prisoner sighed, "Stupid of him, there's no reason not to tell you now. We're Zuranon, well, a 'sect' of Zuranon, we've been following the war since before it began, harvesting negative energy from various battlefields. We also carefully monitored the growth in power of various figures, and then we found out what happened at Prart last year. When Neia drew on the power of the Sorcerer King. When we found out about that, how could we 'not' kill her?" He asked rhetorically.

Skana frowned, it didn't make sense. "I don't get it, why didn't you just offer yourselves to the Sorcerer King's service, he 'is' undead after all, why kill the acolyte of someone who by your standards, might as well be a god?"

"Because he doesn't strive to create more death of course, why he doesn't, we don't know, but he doesn't. However, it was thought, as we saw the bloodlust of his Pope, that 'if' she were turned undead, whenever she was out serving his will, someone like her could create a veritable sea of it. She was able to draw on his power in life, what more could she accomplish if she were an undead. So we decided to use poison. With poison soaking her organs, raising her to life as a human would be… well even if it is possible, what sense would it make, she'd just die in agony all over again. However if she were raised as an undead, who knows what being her lord might make of her? An undead follower who can draw on the power of an undead god, who moves out into the wider world? She'd wipe out whole cities just trying to gain control of the power she could draw on."

He smiled blissfully at the thought, "We'd be fueled for years off her efforts on his behalf, with none the wiser, or so Count Medif insisted." He sighed with regret and shook his head as he kept pressure on his wound.

Skana heard steps coming closer, she approached the wounded man and finished him off with a satisfying thrust through his throat, cutting off his cries, she returned to the last survivor.

"So you hoped the Sorcerer King would create a follower who loved death more than he did himself, and that as such, she'd create limitless power sources for you, where he did not. But why didn't you think you'd be caught?" She asked in a curious voice.

"We used so many clueless dupes and stooges, we thought it was impossible, Count Medif figured you'd just blame the restaurant owner and maybe the waiter and call it a day." His pained voice was full of both disbelief and regret.

Skana laughed, the steps were close, approaching the open door, she was sure they could see her. She sheathed her sword. "Well unfortunately, you missed your target. Neia survived the attempt, and your stooges were not quite thorough enough. Each one gave up just enough to let us track you back here, and now you're caught. Oh... and one more thing you should be aware of, which I think you either forgot, or did not know." Skana said with casual sadism in her voice that actually sent a chill down her last surviving captive's spine.

"Neia doesn't just 'serve' the Sorcerer King, she loves him like a father, and the Sorcerer King, he dotes on her like a man might his own daughter… and also… he might not love to create 'death' but don't mistake that for mercy. He 'does' love revenge on those who wrong him and his." Skana said, and as horror dawned upon the older man's face, Skana kicked him in the temple, sending his head back into a stone pillar and knocking him unconscious just as CZ and Lakyus approached her back.

"You got him?" Skana asked rhetorically.

"We did." CZ replied. "These?" She asked, gesturing to the bodies.

Skana shrugged, "Well, they didn't surrender, more or less."

"I see." Lakyus said flatly. "At least it looks like nothing of value was lost."

"Can I have some time with the Count?" Skana asked happily.

"Too late, he has been dispatched to Nazarick." Lakyus said contentedly. "If it helps, Vanysa sends her thanks for the new toy. She thinks fairly highly of Neia, so I can assure you it won't be a pleasant, or short, stay."

"Well, I'll have to visit him soon enough for myself, and I suppose I should see to these. " Skana said calmly and with a regretful sigh, she sent a message to Nazarick and had a gate opened, she tossed the living and the dead through, and then an unexpected message came for her, from the Sorcerer King himself.

"Would you like to go see your wife?" He asked in a voice that fairly resounded with noble gratitude.

"Yes, My Lord." Skana replied instantly.

"The gate will be open for you in a moment, Lakyus and CZ may go as well if that is their wish." Ainz added.

Turning to Blue Rose leader and the battle maid, "Do you want to go see my wife?" Skana asked the pair and they nodded emphatically.

"They will go with me, Sire." She replied. The gate opened, and they entered it as quickly as they could.


	17. Painful Lessons

**AN: Yeah I know, it has been a slow updating period for me, I've been embeded in an instructor course for the last few weeks that left me very tired and with little free time, but hey, I passed and got my certification, so... yay me. I have been trying to get these written and edited for a bit now, hope it was worth the wait, today you get a Synod and a God Rising Chapter each. Enjoy. :)**

_...Illyana's House…_

Neia looked up at Pestonya from her position with her head in the dog woman's lap.

When the woman finally spoke it was with a very motherly voice.

"You shouldn't feel guilty over your feelings." Pestonya said, and she began to caress Neia's head.

"How did...?" Neia started to ask.

"Because you love them." Pestonya answered.

"Them?" Neia asked uncomfortably.

"Your friends, your family, the ones waiting beyond these walls." Pestonya replied, letting her hand linger on Neia's cheek.

"You feel bad about putting them at risk, and you feel bad about making them feel afraid for you. When the impulse hit you, and then when you understood how it would affect them for you to end your life... It's only natural to feel these things, to feel 'guilt' over everything that went wrong, over what almost happened, even over your desire for it all to end."

Neia could only look up into the matronly canine face and curiously, her eyes of terror did not cause the maid to even flinch.

"Did you ask to feel that way? Did you say to your god, 'Give me pain I can't bear, give me fear I can't live with, make me feel like everyone is better off without me.' Did you say any of that?" Pestonya asked, and Neia shook her head vigorously in a negative response, though she could not bring words to pass her lips.

"Then we have to help you come to terms with your own mind, with your thoughts, and learn to regain control. I won't lie to you and say you'll be who you were before this all began. But I will say that there is still hope that you'll learn to live 'today', and come to terms with everything behind you."

"Thank you…" Neia whispered.

"My dear… haven't you enough weight on you? You cannot bear the weight of others' hearts. Nobody can."

"Father does..." Neia whispered.

"Father?" Pestonya asked.

Neia blushed and tapped her finger tips together self-consciously.

"Ah... I... Well, Lord Ainz feels like a father, so sometimes without thinking I uh... call him that." She bit her lip. "He knows and... he doesn't mind." She added.

"I see, but he is undead, his emotions are always under control, you are a human." Pestonya replied, letting the word slide past without further comment.

"Also, you spent a long time pretending nothing got to you. But it did, didn't it?" Pestonya asked.

"I... didn't want it to, because I had to do those things... The first time, at the wall that day, everybody else died, but father gave me life again, so I had... I HAD to live to serve him...! The sin was mine but the price was theirs! When I shot my friend, my followers, I couldn't let anyone else pay the price again... don't you understand? It had to be me!" Neia's body started to tremble.

"I... Yes, it got to me, but because it got to me alone it didn't have to haunt anyone else! That was the reason, they wanted my followers to suffer, but so many already had... so when my wife said one of my orders was monstrous, well what could I say? I know she didn't mean 'I' was a monster, but what else kills children? What else kills its companions? What else shoots the fleeing in the back?! She might not have said I was a monster, but can I be anything else?"

"In my head, I heard Remedios, she said I was poison, that I was drawing my friends to their deaths... after killing so many innocent people, how could I not believe her... myself? Skana died, taking poison meant for me, I almost killed Lakyus in a fit of temper... if I just die... they'll be safe. So I ask you, am I wrong?" Her voice went thick as if choked off as she spoke.

The eyes of terror were blurred with glassy waters welling up, and Pestonya lowered her face to Neia's and gently nuzzled against her cheek.

Pestonya was softer even than she looked. It felt good to be touched like that. "Do you trust your friends and family?" Pestonya asked kindly.

"I do." Neia said confidently.

"Then… don't you trust them to decide their association with you for themselves?" Pestonya asked reasonably.

Neia bit her lip. "Will that stop them from dying when I lose myself again? I'm a danger to them, you know by now what happened, I'm sure you were told before coming to see me." Neia had a bitter smile form on her face as she said that.

"I'm falling apart inside, and poison seeps from every crack. I don't know what to do, but sometimes... like... like before, I can't and couldn't see any other way but my own death. I don't want to die… I know that now… but what else is there?!"

Neia's eyes snapped wide open and she all but shouted, "What else is there?! People like me don't 'get' lives! We don't 'get' happily ever afters! We don't go home again! I'm lucky enough that I got what happiness I did! But after…" Neia briefly fell to tears and rolled over, pressing her face into Pestonya's stomach. When she calmed herself after the dog woman spent a long time just stroking her back.

"When I drew my sword on my wife, that was… How can I? Yes, she can take care of herself, but we'd talked of children, having a life after everything, adopting some orphans, or maybe finding a… a body father to help, but I can't be trusted around children! I've killed too many of them, I react too violently. Imagine what might happen if we had a little girl wake me up from sleep with a nightmare?! What happens then?! Will 'I' become the monster she dreams about, or will I be the one to make her sleep forever after?! I can't give my wife what she wants anymore, maybe… maybe I never could, I don't know, but I can't now! I don't want to be just some miserable wreck to burden her and my friends all the way to the grave. I don't want to die… but I don't even know how to live." Neia rolled back away from her and looked up. "Some legend I am, huh?"

"More than you know." Pestonya said, "You called the Sorcerer King, 'father' didn't you?" She asked, and when Neia nodded anxiously, Pestonya added, "Well, he sent you here hoping for you to get better, do you think he would do that if he didn't think you could?"

Neia shook her head, "If the one I see as a father has hope for me still, I will embrace it. But I don't know what to do. Last year, Tinamoc told me about a question he couldn't answer. He wanted to know how to live with himself after a terrible thing he'd done, weighed on him. I didn't have an answer then, and I don't know the answer for myself either. But do you know what question really haunts me?" Neia asked desperately.

"No, what?" Pestonya prompted.

"What if I can't?" Neia whispered. She bit her lip hard enough that it bled, and did not notice. "When I drop that 'what if' all that remains is 'I can't' and then...". She trailed off and looked away. Silence remained for a while until Pestonya broke it.

"Come with me, why don't I show you to your room, and we'll get you into some comfortable clothing." Pestonya offered, helping Neia up, she walked her out of the magnificent little paradise.

_...Outside Illyana's House..._

CZ, Lakyus, and Skana found themselves looking out over a great green field at the marvelous building the Sorcerer King had created to heal the wounds of war. "So this is where she is?" Skana asked, biting her lip.

"Something wrong?" CZ asked.

"Really, CZ?" Lakyus asked incredulously.

"Something 'else'." CZ clarified.

"It's just that I 'know' Neia, for all the wonderful things about her, she tends to deny things are wrong, but she can't deny them now, not anymore. So if she can't deny them, what will she do?" Skana replied with a voice full of concern.

"Recover?" CZ only half-asked.

"I don't know, I honestly do not know." Lakyus responded.

"Will she even want to see me?" Skana asked, "Maybe we shouldn't have come."

"Then leave it to her, but if she doesn't, just be patient, and try not to be upset over it." Lakyus cautioned her patiently, placing a hand on Skana's shoulder.

"It isn't you." CZ added her own cautious warning.

Skana took a deep breath and swept her hair back with one hand, "You're both right, all we can do is go, and leave it to her to decide what she wants."

Despite her brave words, the walk towards the entrance was the slowest Skana had ever moved as the courage that drove her to run full tilt into hundreds and hundreds of fights, flagged and all but failed her. Had it not been for her companions, she felt she would surely have tucked tail and run 'somewhere'. It made her uncomfortable to do this, but as she thought over the events of the last few days, she could see no other option.

There was no conversation as they walked towards the building, Skana could only turn things over in her mind. She thought back to when Lakyus had warned her, she thought about finding that Neia had hurt herself in the night, she thought to all the denials her wife had made that she had tacitly accepted just because it was easier.

'Hmpf, 'Bold' my saddle-chapped ass.' Skana grumpily thought to herself. 'I let all that go because it was easier than dealing with it, CZ warned me at Prart that Neia wasn't fine, then Lakyus warned me at Kami Miyako that she needed time to stop, and I never listened. The Sorcerer King says I didn't fail her, but even if I can't admit it to him or his guardians, I did. I took the easy route and just let the signs and symptoms go, I let Neia… I let my wife, slip deeper and deeper, and what did I do about it? How could I have been so stupid?' Skana's thoughts rushed around like wild horses in her mind, she ground her teeth hard enough that her jaw ached as she walked forward.

'Not this time. Not this time or ever again, if Lakyus hadn't listened, Neia would have been a corpse on a bathroom floor, she'd have died all alone in agony. If I can face demihumans and demons, then damn it, I can deal with this!' She forced her mind to focus, she took slow, even, deep breaths in and out as they drew closer and forced herself to look up, her stride lengthened and became more confident.

Lakyus looked over at her as they came to the base of the steps, "We've got her back, but we've also got yours. Don't forget that." She reassured, and Skana looked over at her and smiled with more confidence than the adventurer expected to see on the one eyed woman's face. Skana reached up and covered Lakyus's hand with her own.

"Thanks. I mean that, to both of you." Skana said, and walked up the stairs without further hesitation. The room was large and open, there were numerous people sitting in comfortable looking chairs along the walls with various people seated along them, not only were there humans, but there were elves, dwarves, orcs, and a variety of other beings.

When the trio entered, they were immediately recognized by many of the people waiting there as patients and visitors. It drew gaping looks of disbelief, and normally Skana would have been happy to stop and talk to them, but now there was only one thing on her mind. She approached the counter and for a moment her tongue caught before it could form words as she looked at the woman opposite her..

She found herself looking down at a familiar face. "Enlaith? Right?" Skana asked in surprise.

The elf girl looked at her in shock. "Lady Skana!" She rose immediately to her feet with a joyous expression on her face. She rushed away from the desk, out the entry dividing the waiting area from where she worked, and hurriedly embraced her auburn haired savior. It was a tight embrace that caught Lakyus and CZ by surprise to see.

Skana embraced her in return. "I'm so glad you're alive, I didn't see you after… well, you know." She said. The beautiful blond elf stepped back and nodded. "No, it's alright, I made it out of Kami Miyako just fine, I ended up going to the sanctuary lands the Sorcerer King bought, I lived there for awhile, but when word came…"

"Yes?" Skana asked as Enlaith trailed off.

"Well, the agents of the Sorcerer King came among us asking for volunteers or people in search of work, they told us of how many Black Justice warriors and other soldiers were suffering badly from the wounds of war. They said we could help by working in facilities like these, so of course I volunteered immediately, how could I not? You all did so much for us…" She let the sentence hang, then went on. "Anyway I work here now, imagine my surprise to find... well, I suppose you're here for her." Her voice went grave and serious. What she said wasn't a question, and the trio nodded seriously.

Enlaith took Skana's hands in both of her own, "Yes, of course, I took her to the rest area, but Pestonya has probably taken her to a private room by now."

She leaned over into the window and said quietly to another elf sitting at a nearby desk with a stack of documents, "Sabine, I'll be handling these myself, cover the window for me."

The elf smiled back gently and stood up from her position, she then went to the window where Enlaith had been seated and took her place. As Lakyus looked at the woman, she noticed that while her hair was long, as most elf women wore it, it was not back, it was shaped to fall in front of her ears, most elves didn't do that. Most showed off their heritage and did so proudly. The fact that she concealed her most obviously elven feature suggested that she was among those who bore lasting scars, either the physical sort they refused to heal, or the mental sort that they had yet to recover from.

It brought up a lingering sense of loss, one she'd felt since the horrors of the interior of the Slane Theocracy had been laid bare, but about which she could do nothing but let pass. Part of her ached to speak with the girl, she almost approached the window to offer some words of comfort or hope or 'something'. But she aborted the half step and turned her face away and back over to where Enlaith was explaining things to Skana. Sabine was another she could never help. Instead she focused where she could, and turned her ears back to the pair as well.

"...So now she's going to be an inpatient, and per the orders that came for me from His Majesty after having settled her in, she's to be allowed unlimited long term residency if that is what it takes, she can stay here until she says she wants to go, even if the staff had already deemed her ready months or years before. I promise you, Lady Skana, there isn't an elf in this place, who won't move the world itself if that is what is needed. She's a national hero for us, we'll do anything for her, no matter what." Enlaith squeezed Skana's hands as hard as she could and her voice was firm as steel as she emphasized what she was saying.

"So, now if you'll come with me, I'll show you where she is, I can't promise she'll want to see you… I've dealt with a lot of cases like hers now, and do you know what hits hardest right at moments like this?" Enlaith asked as she started to lead them away from the lobby and down a long corridor.

"No. What?" CZ asked.

"Shame. Worse, at the moment at least, than the feelings that led her to try to end it all, is the fact that she tried to end it all. For all our efforts to erode it, there is still a strong, vile stigma against suicide and mental health problems. The Sorcerer King's edicts against such beliefs, his public statements, did much to erode it, but the private opinions, cultures, and upbringing of his subjects are a lot to change, even for a god. She's a good example, she feels like she failed somehow, irredeemably. It's strange isn't it?" Enlaith asked with a note of sadness and irony in her voice.

"What is?" Lakyus asked.

"Here we have a warrior woman of the highest caliber, she has braved arrows, magic, fought armies and even killed the most dangerous paladin in the modern era, she literally forced an entire army to kneel and started to crush it, ripping her flesh open and bleeding. She was ready to die by drawing on the very power of god… but she's afraid of how people will judge her over this one single desperate act. Fearing death less than contempt and judgement… how strange are people? She bore all that physical agony and psychological torment, but do you know what she was frightened of not but a few hours ago?" Enlaith reached into her pocket and began going through a set of keys as she asked the question, but she did not wait for their answer.

"She was frightened about what her wife would think of her, what her friends would think of her, what her 'father' would think of her for it all, even having heard from him that he didn't think less of her, only feared for her, and she's still more frightened of how she'll be seen and thought of, than anything she ever faced in the war. It's a dark, dark thing, to have one's own mind become an enemy." Enlaith somberly said as she turned a corner, leaving them to dwell on that as they walked the rest of the way down the hall until she'd stopped at a large door.

She slipped the key into the lock and turned it quietly. "You lock her up like a prisoner?" Skana asked in surprise, her eye widened and her fingers clenched and unclenched anxiously.

Enlaith froze, "We take the utmost care with the lives of our patients, I don't 'want' to secure her this way, but the degree of her stability has yet to be assessed, and this keeps her safer, and everybody else as well. Tell me, has she ever been violent towards you or anyone else?"

Skana and Lakyus both looked away uncomfortably. "I withdraw the question." Skana said softly.

Enlaith looked… very sad in that moment. "If this could be her, it could be anyone, and yet still, there are people out there who won't come to us when they need it…" She shook her head, dismissing the depressing thought, and cracked the door open.

"Lady Neia?" She whispered, "Will you take visitors?"

"Oh god… oh god, oh god, oh god…" Neia's voice was such a soft whisper that even she could barely hear herself, but thanks to the power gained by years of war and violence, and in the case of CZ, her innate nature, the anxiety laden little voice… so small and contradictory to the powerful voice they were so used to, was as clear as a little dinner bell.

"I… Yes, send them in." Neia said from within.

Enlaith nodded to the group, and opened the door the rest of the way. As the door swung in, they found themselves in a moderately sized light blue colored room that vaguely reminded them of an open sky. There was a small bed in the corner, a table, a private restroom complete with actual plumbing, a small table fit for a few people to sit at, which was made up of a light colored wood that Skana did not recognize. In the corner of the room was an easel on which a canvas sat and the beginnings of a painting.

Neia herself sat at the table facing away from them, her hands held her arms at the bicep and moved up and down anxiously as if cold, despite the warmth of her quarters.

Skana went immediately over to her wife, and knelt down beside her where she sat. "Neia…" She whispered.

Neia's eyes were squeezed tightly shut, she didn't look over. "Neia please…" Skana whispered with no more noise than a light breeze, "Please look at me."

Neia didn't look, Lakyus and CZ held back, allowing Skana to speak.

"Neia, please let me apologize to your face, give your wife that much." She whispered further.

Neia's eyes flew open as if she'd been slapped and her head whirled over to face where Skana knelt. "I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I let you down, I wasn't there when you needed me, how you needed me. I knew something was wrong… I knew it but I didn't say anything, I was afraid to speak up. I just kept waiting for you to be alright when everybody warned me you weren't. Please… please forgive me. I almost let you die because I was afraid, and…"

As Skana spoke, Neia's bottom lip quivered and she shook her head in small, jerking motions, "No, my love you didn't… it wasn't on you…"

"Yes, it was." Skana said, laying her hands in Neia's lap. "It was because I was there and I could have said something, done something, and didn't. It was easier to do nothing and just wait for the problem to fix itself. But leaving you to your own suffering was no better and no different than leaving a wounded soldier on the battlefield, even worse, because I'm the one person who should be 'first' to rush to your aid."

Neia's eyes welled up, "I never wanted to you to worry, I never wanted to hurt you, any of you…" Neia said, looking from her wife to her friends. "I thought," she froze, she almost looked away, but held her gaze and carried on, "I thought if I were gone, I'd be keeping you safe, so many disasters followed me, and I lost myself. Tinamoc once told me not to lose myself in all this, and I did anyway. When…" She looked down at Skana and touched her cheek, caressing it lovingly, "you died, shaking and in pain, from a poison meant for me, after I'd already done so much, all I could see for any of you was suffering if I remained around. Skana, I promised you a life, we talked of children together, a quiet rest after everything was over, and what could I offer at the end? I thought you'd be safer, and… I thought at least my own hurt would pass away."

Skana let Neia's hands cup her cheeks, then wrap around her as she slipped down from the chair, she knelt in front of her wife and each drew the other into an embrace. "Maybe we underestimated each other, maybe we were both afraid, but that stops now, I promise you, I promise you that." Skana said, drawing back to look Neia in the eyes. "I told you at Prart, you're stuck with me to the end, and I mean any end."

"If it helps to know, we got them." Lakyus finally said, and Neia looked over to her.

"The ones who…?" Neia began.

"Yes." CZ said, cutting her off. "Most are dead." She added with an underlying hint of satisfaction to her monotone.

"Who were they? Former Theocracy loyalists?" Neia asked.

"Sort of." Lakyus said, "They were from the Slane Theocracy, but they were a Zuranon offshoot, they targeted you hoping that the Sorcerer King would raise you as an undead, and that you would kill vast numbers in his name, and in so doing, fuel their own magic. There were two survivors among the guilty, they are now in Nazarick, probably wishing they hadn't survived." There was a surprising edge to Lakyus's voice, a viciousness that Neia had never heard in her before.

Neia's mind went into overdrive, they could see her moving to a tactical emotionally dead mindset, the sort she had when she ordered people's deaths. "I see, they'll be interrogated, probably Vanysa and Demiurge will make a game out of who can get the most information fastest, they'll identify any other known Zuranon agents or hiding places, and father will have the lot of them hunted down… depending on size, Zuranon will be wiped out of the region within a year or less except for long silent offshoots…" She trailed off as she muttered the implications of the fragment of information she'd just learned, before finally giving a nod of satisfaction at some unspoken conclusion.

Lakyus had seen her think quickly before, she'd seen her decisive and destructive, but she'd never seen such a rapid set of conclusions drawn with such casual naturalness, such automatic competence made her glad they were on the same side. She looked over at CZ as if to confirm her own thinking, and as if the maid demon could read her mind, she nodded. 'Is she really the same squire from years ago?' Lakyus thought to herself.

Neia however, had moved on and was talking quietly with Skana, "I was ashamed, I know I shouldn't have been, but I was. I thought if I just denied everything, told myself I was fine, I would be, if I made myself numb, I wouldn't… if I… no, I was wrong. I'm 'not' fine. The truth is I don't even know if I ever will be."

Lakyus approached and touched Neia's shoulder, "We'll help you every step of the way, we're a team, rose or not, you're a dearly treasured friend, and friends 'are' family, and the point of a family is to help one another."

"Right." CZ said with her characteristic succinctness.

Neia started crying quietly and let herself slip into her wife's renewed embrace. It was only the utterance of a tiny 'thank you' that told them that Neia's tears were those of relief.


	18. Necessities of the Moment

The Synod: The Book of Black Justice

By AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 18

...Arwintar...Following Day...

"Tell me something." Ainz said as he walked the streets of Arwintar beside Leinas Rockbruise.

"Anything." She replied calmly.

"Is it a beautiful day today?" Ainz asked her while he looked around the bustling streets.

Leinas blinked in confusion at the question. "I... suppose it is. The weather is good, looks like summer is going to hit soon, a gentle breeze, the warmth of the sun is pleasing to me, and may I say, Your Majesty, that I'm extremely grateful for this enchanted armor's ability to shrug off the weather's effects on the body.

There was a heavy and exaggerated sigh from her as she walked, it was a rare moment of humor from the serious woman, and Ainz didn't miss it.

"You're welcome, that black armor suits you." Ainz answered and Leinas smiled proudly.

"I thank you, but... Sire, why do you ask what kind of day it is?" Leinas probed curiously as she glanced sideways at him.

The sun was not high in the sky yet, but the city of Arwintar had the population out in force, countless people going about their lives, giving them a wide berth as they walked down the public street.

"I was just thinking. I can 'feel' touch, in a manner of speaking. But... have you ever been so cold, that your sense of touch was numbed, where you felt the pressure of an object, but the true feel of it was lost to you?" He asked curiously.

"Yes, Your Majesty. A few times on some of my tougher adventures." Leinas replied matter of factly.

"That is how it is for myself all the time. Not the cold, but rather the ability to 'feel' anything I put this to." He held up his skeletal hand beside her. "A kind of numbness, it has been a long time, and while I was thinking that this was a pleasant day, I realized just a little while ago I was recalling my memory of what pleasant days were supposed to be like. What if my memory was wrong?" He asked thoughtfully.

"You were... once living?" Leinas asked with surprise etched on her face through wide eyes that did not seem to retain their ability to blink.

"Yes. I do not know why people are always surprised by that. It isn't exactly a state secret, I simply don't mention it, but few have ever recognized that this was the case. But I was once a living being, I remember my mother, the few friends I had, good days and bad ones, I remember death coming for those I knew, and being powerless to stop it. Perhaps that is what drove me to this, august form you see now." Ainz said and held his arms up level with his waist. "But as time goes forward, and those memories become more and more distant and remote, how can I be sure of them?" Ainz asked in quiet reflection.

Leinas didn't answer right away, at first she was not sure the question was seriously meant. 'What does a mortal woman say to a god, even if he was once mortal?' She wondered and, like her master, lost herself in thought.

"I think... I think you don't. Majesty... I think all you can do is remember that not all bodies are like yours is now. And maybe... ask occasionally, 'is it a beautiful day'. I think if you do that, you might remember how different everyone is, and that might make you the kind of king who is loved for all his reign, which I might add, I hope is forever." Leinas answered hesitantly, unable to meet his red eyes as she answered.

"Majesty, may I ask a question?" Leinas ventured in a low voice as they drew closer to their destination.

"You may." He replied absently.

"This isn't about the weather, is it? It's... about her." Leinas guessed hurriedly as if fearing she might lose the nerve to ask.

"Yes." He answered succinctly. "She tried to think as I thought and do as I did, and it tore her apart in the end, and yet there is still more hardship ahead, from which I cannot save her."

"Sire... all this humble soldier can tell you is... what makes you different has made you a better king over us. Perhaps she was too zealous, perhaps the events too much, but even with the hardship ahead... whatever that may be, if you just try to remember that we're different, and 'try' to see through our eyes even when it is impossible, you'll remain a better king than any before you. And I worked under Emperor Jircniv." She said proudly as she praised him.

"Good advice. You know, if you ever wish to retire your armor, you might make a good council member." Ainz remarked in passing, and she blushed lightly.

"Thank you, Sire. But may I ask, where are we going? This isn't the way to the Synod." Leinas asked as she looked around, somewhat baffled.

"Correct, today they debate freely among themselves without a speaker, tomorrow they vote, today we're going to visit a house of healing. Since the initial few that I had built, more have sprung up, often sponsored by my generals themselves." Ainz said with an unmistakable note of pride. "We are visiting the wounded. So that they know their sacrifices were not forgotten."

Leinas froze in midstep, her eyes misted over of their own accord and she stared at him as if he had grown another head.

He made it a step beyond before noticing she was not at his side, and turned around. "Do I have something on my face?" He asked as he brought his hand up to touch the bones of his cheek.

"A king who should rule, what a time to live." Leinas said breathlessly. "Sire... I was an adventurer for some time, during that time I did not work alone, I had comrades, we fought, ate, slept, and traveled together. We often did jobs for nobles..." She spat in the street in revulsion, "Too many were like my family or my fiances, noble in name only. When a comrade died on the mission, those we risked ourselves for, rarely cared enough to even offer their condolences. We were nothing to them, tools to be used up and thrown away. I'm absolutely sure not one of them ever considered visiting a single servant that was injured while working for them. For you to do this... for even the common soldier... I cannot help but look at you this way. I can hardly believe you are real." Awe touched her voice and it was all she could do to not fall to her knees in the street.

"I see. Well, come along." He said patiently, "We may have all day, but that is no reason to dawdle." He said, and resumed his walk, despite his words, he walked slowly until the frozen Leinas gathered herself and ran after him.

Leinas kept one eye focused on him the entire time as her other scanned for any potential threats. 'It's pointless, anything that could threaten him, I can't even slow down... but I can give deference to him and enhance his image by appearing the perfect and devoted guard. Let others see that he has my loyalty, and that will be enough.' As she thought this, her already stiff back straightened even further and her solid steps were even more deliberate.

They walked that way until they came to a great, broad building surrounding by high walls, there was no gate, just an open walkway within, and Leinas looked around her with admiring eyes. A garden ran from one wall to the other, broken into two only by the straight path, and down that long path were many trees which swayed in the gentle breeze, their bright colors showing everything to be vibrant and alive.

"This one was built by Emperor Jircniv, modeled after what he saw on a visit to 'Illyana's House' where Neia currently resides. General Nimble oversaw its construction, and became one of its first patients. The employees are mostly young women in need of work, but they are closely screened for suitability." Ainz said, answering the unspoken question as they drew closer to the large stone building, cream colored marble greeted them, and a small set of stairs ascending up to large wooden double doors.

"I shouldn't be surprised. When visiting my injured soldiers who were treated with common means until a magic caster could come, many a brave young man or brave young woman, screamed for their mothers through their pain." Leinas remarked, and then a thought occurred to her.

"My Lord... may I ask a question, I... I don't want to pry, but it is something I've wondered, after reading all I did about the campaign in the Holy Kingdom, and in the south of the Slane Theocracy, and everything that happened. It is about 'her'." Leinas said with trepidation as they drew closer to the doors.

"Ask." Ainz said as he held his hand on the door, his voice solemn and uncertain. "Though I may refuse to answer."

Leinas's voice grew solemn as she looked over her shoulder at the spectacular vista within the walls, doubt was rich beneath the solemnity, as if afraid to ask, or afraid of the answer, she went on, "I heard about her... wounds. The ones inflicted on her by Remedios, the ones she bore at Prart, Wheaton, and elsewhere. When she couldn't move, couldn't fight, did she call for her mother too? Like so many others, do you know? It is just so hard to imagine...?"

"No. She did not." Ainz answered calmly. "While it is not for me to reveal why, no, she did not. Instead... she called for me." Though his tone was neutral, to the attuned Leinas, there seemed to be a tumult there that did not quite emerge from far beneath the surface.

'Is he 'really' undead?' Leinas wondered again as the silence stretched between them as he opened the door on his own.

...Synod Chamber...

"I tell you all, if he's not a god, then there are no gods!" Lakyus said from her place in the balcony. Her hand thrust out and she pointed to the assembly, she was standing with a foot forward, as if signalling a charge over the battlefield. 'It's like back then, charging over a field, why do I feel like she's in front of me again?' She thought, and for a moment her eyes were distant, she was not in the Synod, she was on the battlefield, a black cloak and a small woman in front of her sending arrows relentlessly forward and running hard enough it seemed she would catch up to her own loosed volleys of death. A stored bow, a raised sword, the passionate urgency to do 'more' and put down the past.

Then the moment was gone, and she saw another, Neia sitting beside her, with the rest of Blue Rose around a campfire, Skana ladling stew into bowls, CZ assembling her impossible weapon. 'Why do you ask what's next?' Neia asked her, 'It should be obvious. We go, we fight, we win, we remake this whole goddamn world, one word and one swing of the sword at a time. We break the breakers and topple tyrants and tear apart everything that shouldn't exist, and give this world the god it doesn't deserve. We do it because things have got to change. Things 'need' to change. No more Illyanas, no more Keenos in hiding, afraid to show themselves. We'll fight for a new world, a better world, and if killing or dying is what we've got to do, then we do either or both. Silly question.' Neia had said when Lakyus asked as she cleaned the blood of some poor fool off her cursed sword.

That moment passed as well, and she was in the Synod again, looking around her at the many priests. As she thought of that moment in the past, she recalled the passion in the Pope's words. She let her hand drop down and looked down with it momentarily. 'Then... I saw only her fanatical devotion to her god, but now... I get it, I can't believe I misunderstood so thoroughly...' She took a deep breath as the ghost of the war faded away, though she felt for a moment as if she heard Neia cheering her on as she used the pope's words in a modified form.

"The old gods did not make this world better, the new one does! Yes, there were deaths! But there were deaths before that! And for once, for perhaps the first time in history, death did not follow death! Our Lord, he has ended the strife! He has brought peace unimaginable! Elf and human and dwarf and vampire and naga and dragon and ogre and giant, and countless other beings... we all live together in harmony. Our children born today, will not know war! They will not know the fear that those who live a few hills over, might come to take their lives! The past is over! There is a New God that has risen over us, and he has given us a New World! Whosoever denies the obvious, must surely be blind!" Lakyus's voice rang out over the assembly to a hushed silence.

...Illyana's House...

Neia moved the brush delicately over the canvas, slowly bringing the scene to life.

"What are you painting?" Enlaith asked gently as she opened the door and approached.

Neia moved aside. The gentle blue of her robe felt good against her skin, soft and warm, she clutched it to her body as she took a step. Enlaith was wearing the white dress of a nurse with the green inner circle and the blue outer circle over her heart that marked her as a member of the staff.

"Nothing amazing." The Paladin said in a self deprecating way as she waved to the canvas with one hand. "Faces. Many faces, really."

Enlaith looked at the scene, a sea of faces at the base of a large building.

"Where is that?" Enlaith asked genuinely curious. The work was hardly masterful, but a teacher might call it 'acceptable'.

"This was inside of Prart, after the escape from Wenmark. We'd done much to get out with as many as we could, Remedios was in hot pursuit, it took a lot longer to get to safety than it should have... this was back before the siege. When I got back, with my... survivors, well we found Tinamoc had already made it. This was probably one of my greatest victories." Neia's voice went quiet, her lips pursed and turned down sadly.

"I... I went to the temple, our temple, and there Tinamoc greeted me with this." Neia's hand caressed the canvas lovingly, "I don't know if you heard about this one... but these... these had all been slaves. All of them, some of them lived in brothels, some of them were laborers, but they got to Prart and were free. They were safe. I got to embrace so many... the warmth still comforts me." Neia gave a somewhat bitter laugh.

"I hope they're all well, that they've made good lives and found a place to truly call home again. It is... comforting, to know that it wasn't for nothing. That was what I thought back then, that it wasn't for nothing." Neia moved away from the canvas and put the brush and paints aside, and went to her bed, and reached under it.

"Neia?" Enlaith asked hesitantly.

Neia ignored her, she drew another canvas out from under it, and held it up. "I did this one first, though."

There was only one face on it, bright and beautiful, with golden hair and a shining smile beneath bright eyes that were like endless pools of water. "Isn't she beautiful?" Neia asked as she turned the canvas around and held it facing up towards herself.

Her fingers moved over the canvas and lingered on the face at the woman's cheeks.

"She is, is that her? The one you talked about?" Enlaith asked as she approached the Pope and stood beside her, she looked down at the portrait. Copious effort had clearly gone into it.

Neia nodded anxiously.

"I did... that one over there," she inclined her head toward the one of the crowd, "to remind myself that this one here, didn't die for nothing. That none of them did, none of those who followed me, not even those I killed with my own hands." She set the portrait aside, putting it gently on a table and got down beside her bed again, and pulled out two more.

"I did these also." Neia said softly, and held them up, they were smaller, but the scene was stark. The faces of two terrified children, a boy and a girl, they were bound to demihumans that were charging ahead at the artist's perspective. Raw hatred on the faces of the demihuman warriors was obvious enough to make even Enlaith shudder.

"I killed those two children. I also killed the ones 'wearing' them as armor." Neia said gently. "They were just kids, little kids, and I gave the order to shoot, not just to shoot, but to shoot the children. Nobody might have done that, if not for my orders. My wife fell in love with me that day, watching me from down below, she had no idea what I was doing up there." Neia set those aside as well and sat down on the single bed, she didn't look up at her nurse.

"I still... I still know I don't want to die. I haven't forgotten what I first thought as soon as the attempt was over. But I still feel that... impulse. Like nothing can get better, like those I love best, even though they love me, are better off, safer, without me around. At the same time... I also just want to get better, I don't want it to hurt anymore. But shouldn't it? After all the pain I've caused, why should I be without it myself? Do I really have a right to get better even if I can?" Neia asked in a quiet, resigned voice.

Enlaith took all that in, and went to where Neia sat, and crouched down. She took the diminutive woman's hands in her own, they looked as hard and calloused as they felt. 'They're like steel.' Enlaith thought as she tore her eyes from them and looked up, so that the downward looking human woman was looking at her.

Enlaith spoke with patient slowness as she answered. "Lady Neia... the dead don't have any claim on the living. As long as you are alive, you have the right to make what life you can. You don't owe them your sadness, you don't owe them your happiness. I'm sure that Illyana wouldn't have wanted to see you like this anyway. As long as you're alive, you have a future, and what is more, you have a right to it! Just like every living person."

"May I tell you of a recurring nightmare that I have?" Neia asked anxiously as she wrung her hands together.

"Please." Enlaith said softly and covered Neia's hands with her own.

"I'm in a large open room with a group of people, the room we're in is a high, marble landing with rails the curve into long stairs to a long stone floor down below. We're just sitting there talking. As we discuss our lives, each time we talk about something wrong we've done, one after the other, the water level of the well rises up a little. When it finally comes to my turn, the level in the well rises and rises, it overflows. Not with water... it's red, it is blood, so much blood and I want to stop talking but I can't! I can't stop talking no matter how I try! The words continue to flow out, our seats begin to rise as we bob and float, but very little blood flows down the stairs, relative to how many words are pouring out of me. There is debris brought up from within the well, ugly, brown sticks, weeds, detritus... corpses. They flow slowly down the ornate steps. We're bobbing in the bloody lake I've made and I have fallen from my chair, and as I float toward the steps, I grab the rail, and I begin to shift back and forth, kicking, driving the blood downward over the steps and turning it into a waterfall of considerable power. I cling to the rail and continue to kick, driving the blood down, until the flow from the well stops when I myself have ceased to speak. All that remains above to prove that the blood came from where we were sitting, is the wet red stairs and wet red landing on which we sit. When I have told my story to its fullness of completion, there is peace again, but down below, the blood has settled into a great and widespread pool that does not drain but by drips and drops that leak from under the straining doors. I'm trapped up there, looking down, and cannot tear my eyes away, though I can feel the eyes of those I'm with, staring at me in judgement. Then... I wake up." Neia finished the long rant with a shaking body and glassed over eyes.

"I've not had a good night's sleep in... I don't know, since before Wheaton, maybe not since Yanana." Neia said tiredly and wiped her face. "And I don't know if I ever will again."

"I'm not going to lie to you, nobody knows how well things will work out, but I can promise you this, Neia Baraja." Enlaith said and rose so that she was even with the seated Neia, she cupped the woman's cheeks softly, "I can promise we're not going to quit trying, we're not going to give up on you, we're going to help you every step of the way. You don't stand alone, you've got our support every step of the way. Nobody is strong alone, no matter what the storybooks say, everyone who ever gained strength, did so with those who would help them get there. You don't have to stay quiet, you don't have to keep your feelings all to yourself, you don't have to hide your wounds in shame as if they were a blight. They're yours, as much as your face or your voice or your hands, and all of them should be accepted as such. Let us help you, and stop trying to stand by yourself."

Neia smiled weakly, "Alright... can I... maybe go to a group session?"

"Of course. I'll put you on the list for one taking place tomorrow morning, why don't you come with me for now, and we can walk the gardens." Enlaith suggested gently as she rose the rest of the way and stepped back, lightly tugging Neia's hands in invitation.

"I-I think I'd like that." Neia whispered as she let herself rise to her feet.


	19. The Traveled Road

The Synod: The Book of Black Justice

By AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 19

_...Illyana's House..._

Neia had her eyes closed as she lay on the cozy bed alone in her room and stared up into the darkness and ran over everything everyone had said to her. Her wife. Her father. Her friends. "I just want everyone to be OK... including me. Is that so damned wrong?" She asked of the darkness.

'Then you should die. There isn't another solution that is better. If you're dead, you can't hurt them anymore. You can't repeat what your voice did to Gagaran, what your access to your father's power almost did to Lakyus. You can't repeat what happened at Wheaton. You can't draw your sword on your wife or draw your bow on a wayward child. You are a destroyer, you destroyed so many lives that you surpassed a demon emperor, you destroyed so many that you even killed those you sought to help. Destruction is your nature, not love, not affection. Trying to be what you're not, will only cause more harm as they draw closer to you.' Neia lay alone there as the voice spoke to her.

'If you love them, you have to protect them. Don't you? And besides, isn't it better to do it now, before you turn them against you? At least then you'll be mourned for a little while, before they move on with their lives.' It said as if it were the whispers of a demon in the dark, like some twisted lover cuddled close and whispering twisted words woven out of shadows.

She clutched the blanket close to her body. 'Go ahead, take the sheet, wrap it around your neck, then pull. One moment of pain, and it will be over, you'll be at peace, they'll be safe. They'll miss you, but they will get over it, they're strong, and they'll be stronger without you. Do you think they'll be better off with you drinking yourself into a stupor, cutting yourself up, or drawing your sword or bow whenever something makes you angry?'

Neia held the blanket against herself and turned onto her side and squeezed her eyes tightly shut against the voice in her head, that hateful inner critic, that buzzard that had been circling about in her mind as one experience, setback, failure, or less than flawless triumph ate away at her.

She opened her eyes, well adapted to even this kind of darkness, it would be easy, she took a deep breath and reached for the end of the blanket and sat up, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

She pulled up that voice, and looked at in her own mind, she tried to put a form to it, a face perhaps. She cycled through the faces of those she hated, and those who hated her as she sought an enemy to fit the words to.

From Remedios to Dominic, to her own mother, she tried to picture the words coming out, and each she discarded in turn.

Until at last, she set them to her own lips, and, alone in the dark, she looked down at the floor, and as though she was looking at her own battered, wounded self, every mark and scar that the most potent healing magic could not touch was evident, and her own face twisted in pain. "You're wrong." She said softly to that wounded self. She gritted her teeth and shut her eyes as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "You're wrong, you hear me!" She whispered fiercely. "I want to get better damn it! I want to get better! Yes I want them to be safe! But I'm part of them... and they are part of me."

She started to rock back and forth at the edge of her bed as she held herself.

Her eyes pressed against her knees, and she let her tears fall out, "But so are you. You're 'also' part of me, little voice, and I know what it is now, you're my guilt, even when I shouldn't have felt guilty, you're my shame, even when I shouldn't have felt ashamed. You're the pain I denied and my own self criticism. You're just a wounded me, and because you're part of me, if I help me, I'm helping you. I want to get better, I want to laugh with my wife and wake up to see her smile, and I want to put that smile there. I want Lakyus to come for dinner and to try and fail to tell another joke, and have her laugh anyway because she's my friend. I want to hold father in an embrace and tell him I love him, that I'm proud of him and I can't do any of those things if I'm gone! I want to remember them all! The ones who fell along the way, I don't owe them my death, I owe them a world where they didn't die for nothing!"

She rocked harder and harder as the voice in her head told her she was alone.

"No! I know it feels that way... I know it does! You don't have to tell me that! But the fact that I'm here says otherwise, even if it is hard to accept! They want me to get better! Not 'get out of the way!' I'm still alive, and that means I can try, I can try as often as I have to, to help me, to help you... I know that what you're saying isn't so, and you don't get to decide how my end comes! You don't! You can't! You won't! I'm going to talk, I'm going to listen, I'm going to find my way OUT of this, because I'm Neia Baraja, damn it! And if I haven't been brought down by now by whole armies, I won't be brought down by my own damn voice in my own damn head! I'll argue with you every time! You're just my own feelings, my own thoughts, my fears... and even though you're powerful... the truth is... you're like a little wounded bird calling out for help. I'll get help for us both, and we'll see tomorrow together."

Neia forced herself to lie back down in bed, beneath the covers the voice had said to use to end her life, and closed her eyes of terror in the darkness, and finally went to sleep.

_...Arwintar...Lakyus's Hotel Room..._

Lakyus woke up early, the sun hadn't even crested the horizon when she pulled the rope five times, summoning five servants to her room. They arrived together, wearing their crisp outfits of black and white in the fashion established when the maids of Nazarick had been seen in all their perfection by the highest ranks of nobility. As she moved about her room giving crisp and hurried orders, she recalled an expression she once heard on a trip to that impossible place. 'Maid outfits are justice.' Just what that meant, she still did not know, but... 'they are beautiful and fit the roles quite well.' She admitted, she swiftly ordered that her bath drawn, her clothes prepared, breakfast made and delivered for her and three companions, all to go, a carriage prepared, and both Skana and CZ awakened and informed that they should be made ready as well. She was a whirlwind of activity, an unstoppable force of motion as the squad rushed to obey her completely.

The water was boiling hot, it touched her skin and a shiver of pleasure ran through the blonde legend. The faint sound of the water as it began to ripple around her was like the opening to some beautiful music. A servant of the hotel began to gently scrub her back as Lakyus leaned forward with her arms crossed over her breasts in front of her.

"Are you really Lady Lakyus?" The woman asked with disbelief.

"When I got up this morning, yes." Lakyus made the light joke, and the woman washing her tittered a bit.

"You're famous." The servant added.

"So I've heard." Lakyus remarked dryly, prompting another laugh.

The slender dark haired servant went about her routine with practiced ease, "You're a priestess, right? Are you here for the Synod?" She asked conversationally.

"I am. And before you ask, I am going to vote to recognize His Majesty as a god. I've seen up close what he can do, and what he chooses to do. He is the salvation of humanity, a river of plenty to us. I can see no other way forward." She said quietly as the woman scrubbed one arm, and then the other.

"The stories about your service to him are all over the map. Early on, people said it was just about money, but as the war went on, people said different. Can I ask... why'd you really turn yourselves over to him?" The maid asked curiously.

Lakyus stood up and let the woman work on her legs. With the maid behind her, Lakyus looked out the window where darkness still covered her world. "Because... because he gave my sister the world. Money is nothing, a medium of merit to show our time is not to be wasted, and a way to keep our equipment up. If money were our reason, we'd have joined him a long time before we did. The truth is, what it took was to see his people first, it was just a job, just a chance to protect some people and make good money in the process to keep our equipment up and all. But while we were there, in the Holy Kingdom, we got to see who they really were. More importantly, we saw the world they were making, and I got to see my sister as I'd never known her before, and I never would have if it hadn't been for him. My old gods kept her hiding from those she loved, my old gods made no room for her in the world. This one... he not only has more power, he has enough power to make room in the world for all of us. That's godlike enough as far as I'm concerned."

"I guess that makes sense, what kind of monster would put a god that doesn't need them, before a family that does?" The maid asked gently as she finished scrubbing, and Lakyus stepped out of the bath and the woman began to pad her down.

"Exactly." Lakyus said warmly as she did her hair and the elegantly dressed maid tended to her duties by retrieving the priestly dress. It was easily donned, put overhead and then the woman went behind Lakyus's back and bound the golden rope behind it, tying it with a crisp sharpness born of substantial practice.

The timing was expert grade, as a knock sounded at the door only a moment later as Lakyus slipped her shoes on. "Enter!" Lakyus said enthusiastically.

"Thank you." She said to the maid, who curtseyed and departed just as CZ and Skana entered the room, followed by a servant bearing four small boxed meals.

"It is early." CZ said near neutrally.

Lakyus grinned broadly at the enthusiasm CZ's 'almost' neutral tone had buried.

"Yes, what gives?" Skana asked as she brought her hand up to her mouth to cover a yawn that, while genuine, seemed much louder than necessary and therefore highly exaggerated. With her other arm stretched far out at her side, it was enough to make Lakyus smirk.

Lakyus raised her hand in front of her and then lifted one finger with melodramatic slowness, "Several things. First, we go see your wife and we all have breakfast together."

Skana's sleepy eyes immediately brightened and her hands came together with almost childlike enthusiasm.

"Second, we collect your wife and go together to the Synod." She raised another, and then another finger in rapid succession, "And also, today is the day of the final vote, where His Majesty's status as far as the priesthood is concerned, is settled once and for all. If they vote to add him to the pantheon, then the six become seven."

CZ's face cracked a tiny smile. "That is good." She said succinctly.

"Yes, she should be there, she's worked for so long to see this come true... nobody deserves to be there more than her." Skana said and briefly wiped her eyes at an unexpected swelling of longing.

"My thoughts exactly." Lakyus said, "Let her see it."

"Only one question?" Skana asked as she started tapping her foot.

"Yes?" Lakyus said as the servant departed silently.

"Why are we still here, we should be with her now, now, right now, why are you still standing there, let's go lets go lets go!" Skana said in an antsy, and fidgety way.

"Alright, alright! Let this be her crowning moment!" Lakyus said, and before she could even act, CZ snatched up the boxes and a few seconds later, the gate was opened and they were at the base of the steps of 'Illyana's House'. Into the doors and down the hall, they went without pause, with CZ walking so fast that her companions had to run to keep up with her. The nurses, busy as they were, recognized her immediately, and word went to Enlaith, who met them outside Neia's door.

"Can we see her?" Skana asked hopefully, a sudden anxiety striking her that... 'What if I can't, we can't? What if she doesn't want to?'

Enlaith put a finger to her own lips and said a gentle, 'Shhhh.' She then pointed to the window that gave them a view into Neia's private room, and the three women saw a most unexpected sight.

Neia was there. But she slept. Skana covered her mouth with her hands and stepped back, her eyes glistening.

"I can barely believe it..." She whispered.

Lakyus stepped away as well, and put her arms around Skana's shoulders without saying a word, but CZ looked on for what seemed a long time.

"That is good." The maid demon spoke their thoughts for them.

Enlaith nodded. "It is. When was the last time?" She asked with a grave expression on her face.

"Months, at least months. She was up before us every time, at first... I thought it was just her dedication to her duty but... no, she couldn't, so she didn't." Skana's entire body was shaking as she started to break down, and Enlaith walked swiftly down the hall, waving for the trio to follow her.

The closeness of her companions helped Skana keep hold of herself, "I haven't seen her like that... peaceful, in... I don't know how long."

"She's asked to join a group session for therapy today. To talk with others who have stories like her own." Enlaith said, and a professional tone took over, "Understand that I won't have those interrupted, not even for you three. If you want to see her while those are going on, you'll have to wait. That isn't scheduled for some hours yet, but if you want time with her, then just wait in the gardens, I'll send her to you when she wakes up." Enlaith remarked in the stern professional voice of a nurse, and her look, no less stern than her voice, told them there would be no arguing the matter.

Their mild sigh echoed off the walls, "No, it's fine, we'll wait in the garden, when she wakes up, tell her she has visitors who come bearing bacon, eggs, and biscuits." Skana said enthusiastically.

Enlaith reached up to her neck and took a bell that dangled from a string and rang it gently. An orderly appeared from around the corner like magic, and Enlaith gestured to the three of them. "Hans, take them to the garden, and... bring them a blanket to sit on, looks like they might be in for a little breakfast picnic."

The orderly was a large man, thickly muscled but with the most gentle brown eyes Skana had ever seen, they seemed to peer into their very souls, but without one ounce of judgment behind them. "This way." He said in a deep baritone, and the great behemoth lumbered back the way they'd come, snatching a blanket off a cart casually and leading them through a side door that brought them to a great wide grassy area. Trees swayed back and forth, and flowers bloomed and turned to face a sun that was impossibly warm and... impossibly out at all.

"Wait, we're indoors..." Lakyus bit her lip and felt her heart beat faster.

"We do not call him a god for nothing." CZ said with tranquil ease.

"Will I ever stop being impressed?" Lakyus asked humbly as she took in the landscape.

"Never." Skana and CZ answered together as the orderly handed Lakyus the blanket and gestured to the nearest tree.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable." Hans said gently, "I'm sure she'll be up soon."

The trio wasted no time in laying out the blanket beneath the gently swaying willow tree and CZ put the boxes in front of her companions, including one in the empty space.

Skana stared at the empty space opposite her where the box for her sleeping wife sat, and her lower lip began to suddenly, unexpectedly quiver.

"Skana?" Lakyus asked with a sudden concern.

The words rushed out as if a dam had burst, "I almost lost her, I almost lost her... oh god... how... how did it get so close... if any one of a dozen things had been different... that space... that space would really be empty, and I'd be waiting forever."

Her eyes never left the empty space, neither of her friends moved, neither of her friends spoke, instead they found themselves looking with such intensity at the empty space, that they missed the entry of the one to fill it.

At least until Neia spoke in a voice as soft as a summer breeze, "You will never lose me." Their heads snapped up to see Neia in a robe of blue, she approached the space under the tree, and the three of them rose to their feet, and went to embrace her.

She tried her best to hold them all, and though she failed, she stretched her arms to their limits, and came close. "You'll never lose me, you hear that, no matter what happens, now, tomorrow, or in a thousand years, I'll never be far, as long as I'm not forgotten." She smiled weakly as they made space for her, and gestured to the blanket.

They returned to their seats on the blanket and opened their boxes together.

They started eating together, and finally Neia asked the question they were sure she would, "How... how does the Synod go?"

"Supremely well." Lakyus said with a radiant smile spread wide over her face, "We vote today, and I am absolutely confident that His Majesty will be declared to be what you have always said he is. "That is the other reason we came here, to see you, yes, but also to collect you, to take you to bear witness to this moment. You worked so hard, for so long, you deserve more than anyone to see your work bear fruit."

Neia put a bit more bacon and egg in between her biscuit, then took a bite, chewed, swallowed, and then folded her hands in the center of her crossed legs.

She looked at them with such intensity that for a moment they were all of them reminded of the last battle of Prart, when an army fell to its knees. There was a shadow and darkness to her eyes from which two red points glowed with a sudden flaring brightness, only for it all to fade as if it hadn't been, and the shining sky blue of her eyes was restored.

"I'm not going." Neia said gently, and said nothing else as their jaws fell open.


	20. Rising

The Synod: The Book of Black Justice

By AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 20

_...Nazarick..._

Demiurge handed the saw to his winged assistant, and she began to clean it off, her talons clicking on the floor in eager excitement while she began to scrub. "Today is the day, isn't it?" Vanysa asked with a bizarrely perky voice that was delightfully and utterly at odds with the gore coated saw in her hands and the blood that stained her golden fingers.

"Yes. Truly that one was the most useful tool he's ever given to us." Demiurge remarked as he sat down at the desk in the lab and began to record the latest test results.

"Tool?" Vanysa asked curiously as she flicked a bit of intestine that was caught in the saw teeth, free of the instrument and into the sink. "You don't like her?"

Demiurge didn't look up from his writing, "I don't hate her. But I don't really know her either, I know enough to know she's absolutely loyal... like myself, or Albedo, or Sebas, or you. Incapable of betraying him. That makes her a curiosity. Much like her abilities. But she's still a human, 'liking her' isn't 'in the cards', as Lord Ulbert once said." He set the quill aside.

"You liked me a fair bit at least, before I got..." Vanysa looked thoughtfully up at the ceiling and tapped her talon on her cheek, "would this be an upgrade? A promotion?"

"Remade, I think." Demiurge answered, "And no, I just enjoyed your work and we made an excellent team."

Vanysa shrugged that off, "Sounds the same to me." She rolled her eyes, "Men. All the same, no matter your species." She set the clean saw aside and Demiurge threw the bloody hammer in her direction, she caught it easily, snatching it out of the air without looking, and set to scrubbing.

"But you know I like her, right?" Vanysa mentioned casually as the hunks of bone came out of the metal and the hair stuck to it began to wash off.

"You'll like her more when I'm allowed to work with her corpse. After what Sebas told us from his duel with her in Wheaton, I believe that not only can we make more like her one day, but that we can increase their power tremendously by the same kind of magic that was used to create you. I think she'll make an excellent Demon Empress. I wonder if she'd take on the role of the Erinyes of Wrath. The one sometimes called 'Nemesis' on First World." Demiurge rubbed his hands together excitedly.

Vanysa's fangs flashed as she smiled in a demonic version of the toothy way she once did as a human girl. "Only one problem, my dear Archdevil." Vanysa said sweetly as she set the hammer aside and went behind where he stood and caressed his back.

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrow archly.

"Yes. Furies come in threes. If I am Murder, and she became my sister, 'Wrath'... who will be our sister in Jealousy?" Vanysa asked with a sadistic smile, "Have you considered the available candidates among our master's women followers? Enri? Zesshi? Leinas, Lakyus, or Skana? He has a wealth of wonderful choices." Vanysa giggled as she rattled off the veritable harem of loyal and dedicated women.

"That remains to be seen, but if this one is killed, or kills herself, I am sure our Lord will permit her to be restored to a state of glorious demonic form. Then... maybe I will like her quite a bit. It isn't often I run across a human that is so creative in destroying her enemies so utterly. And... against my will I admit, it is a suitable reward, after all, because of her efforts, I shaved decades off the plan to deify our Master in the eyes of the continent's populations." Demiurge rubbed his hands together greedily.

"Are we going to watch the voting?" Vanysa asked eagerly enough that she could barely restrain the urge to hop up and down with the abundance of energy rising through her golden form.

"Yes, right now actually, I just finished. Let's go watch our master take his proper place as god over this corner of the world, before we prepare to give him the rest of it." Demiurge laughed happily and made no objection as his assistant snatched his arm and shoved herself close to him, and they departed to the recreational room where the mirror of remote viewing was set up.

"I assume we're going to take the names of those who vote 'against' this measure?" Vanysa remarked casually as she folded her hands behind her head while she fell in beside him.

"Of course." Demiurge said without flinching, then after a pause, he glanced sideways at the slender golden fury. "That doesn't disturb you? There are only so many reasons to record such names after all."

Vanysa laughed in her charming way, like the beauty of a light breeze through wind chimes. "Who will not support the master, will betray the master. Of course I oppose seizing them... too soon. We should watch however, watch and wait, when the disloyal find the disloyal, they breathe treason like air, and when they do..." Her left hand shot out from behind her head and hovered in front of her face, and she clenched her fist with a demonic snarl. "Then we crush them. Even traitors have a use." Her voice snapped to calm and her hand returned to its casual position behind her head.

"Sensible. After the vote, let's bring out Philip and Astraka, we can give them the news, and have a concert. Beethoven's 9th, I think befits the occasion." Demiurge said with the easy contentment of the inevitable victor.

Vanyza pranced a few paces in front of him and walked backwards, "An excellent choice. But... Can we move faster? I want a good seat."

"Yes, yes we can." He replied, and soon she had to run to keep up with his walk, but she wasn't one to complain about that.

_...Illyana's House..._

"You're... not coming?" Skana looked at her in shock, her mouth opened and closed several times.

"Must I... must I say it again?" Neia asked as she finally blinked. "I can't go."

"Wh-WHY?!" Lakyus asked as she held her arms out to her with her mouth agape and her eyes wide, "You've worked so hard! You did all this for him! You don't need to fear failure! There's no way we can lose! I'm voting for his deification, it's true there are those who will say no, but they are few! This is your moment, 'your' moment! You have the right to be there for it!"

Neia smiled softly, her lips curled just enough that it was present and she looked up toward the false sky. "No. This is his moment. It is true, I won't deny that I dreamed of this day, that hour after hour, my thoughts were filled with a longing to see him standing before the great priests, to see them hail him as the god he truly is." Her lip quivered slightly, but she went on in spite of herself, "I wanted it for him, but also… so I could look back at all those who died bringing this moment about, and say 'we did it'. I won't deny that."

She took a long, deep breath, "But I... realized something last night."

CZ cocked her head to one side, "What?" She asked in her near monotone.

Neia turned her sky blue eyes over them all, touching her hand to her chest and flinging her other arm out wide at her side, "That I matter, too. My health matters, my life matters, and that I should have a chance at one, and I have to take that seriously. I ground myself down for so long that I started to hate myself, I listened to that voice that told me I was a monster, I listened to that voice who told me I was going to fail, that I was going to get in the way of my lord... that I... that I was going to either get you all killed, or kill you myself. I don't want to be that way anymore! I don't!"

"The incident with Tuare, do you remember me telling you about it?" Neia asked as she faced them again. When they nodded, she went on, "I remember seeing a painting on the wall, a little place, the sort of little house I wanted with… with you Skana." She shifted uncomfortably. "When I walked away from that, I felt like I was walking away from a future life, because how could I hurt a girl like that, and not be a threat to anyone around me? Or… remember the day the Overseers were brought to us outside of Wheaton? How I took their hands and allowed the slave owners to be beaten to death? Do you know what I said to the young of that vile couple?" They shook their heads doubtfully.

"When you're willing to bear any consequences, you can do anything. I abandoned my life a long time before it was obvious to the rest of you…" She closed her eyes and brought her knees to her chest and hugged them tight against herself.

"I thought… I didn't have, or deserve, a future, because of what I did, sometimes I still think I don't. But I 'am' alive, and as long as I am… I have a choice about what to do with that life. No matter what that terrible voice cries in my head!" Neia's voice was emphatic, but almost completely broken, and finally her terrifying eyes broke open to reveal watery blue pools.

Her friends, her wife, all went still. "I want to get better! I know father… father wants me to be better too! He said so often enough, he didn't pull me back from the brink of death and despair to throw me away! He didn't pull me back just to see me throw myself into oblivion! You all didn't go so far with me because you were afraid of me! Or even because you believed in my cause... though I know you did. You came this far, because... because you care about me, and if you all do, then why shouldn't I care about myself? Yes, I could stand up now, go with you to the Synod, see that triumphant moment with my own eyes, it would be a treasure like nothing else."

Her eyes were misty enough that she could not see their faces through the water in them, but it did not slow the flow of words from her lips. "But I want my life too! Going to that and... blowing off my session, would just be repeating the same pattern that nearly destroyed me... that nearly... that nearly killed three out of the four people on this blanket! If I want to get better, if I want to be different, I have to make a different choice! A choice to get better! A choice to work on myself! In sum... that choice begins with this one." Neia's passionate voice had not one iota of the power of the evangelist in it, yet despite all that, it was impossible not to feel as she felt, and see as she saw.

"Father... didn't call for me, did he?" She asked with sudden timidity.

"No. You know why, don't you?" CZ replied.

Little streaks of water ran out of the eyes of terror and down her pale cheeks. "I do." Neia answered, "Because... because he feels the same! He is putting me first! That's the kind of god I serve! That's why I love him as a father, because what father could be better than that?! He wants me to get better... and he understands that if I don't make the choice to start now, I might never make it."

Skana crawled over the blanket on all fours, slowly, feeling the grass bend beneath her weight on the blanket, her one green eye inches away from that of her wife.

"There will always be another moment, another service, another task to serve the king... another time to make this choice, but if I don't make it with this one, why would I make it with the next one? Or the one after, or the one after...?" Neia said in a hushed voice that carried with it the first real sense of hope that any of them had heard out of her in over a year.

"Neia... my wife, my hero, my friend... I'm so... very, very proud of you." Skana said and pushed herself forward across the bare gap of space between their faces touching her lips to those of the woman she loved. It was not a fierce, passionate kiss that would ascend to wild throws and torn clothing. Instead it was simple devoted affection, though CZ and Lakyus had the good manners to look away in some imitation of privacy for the couple.

When the kiss broke, and Skana sat back down she took Neia's hands up from the woman's lap and held them between the two, a small bridge between one body and the next.

"You do what you have to. Let me handle the Synod for you, we're a team, all of us." Lakyus said with the brash confidence of an adamantite adventurer.

"We'll be waiting. Always." CZ said the four simple words with the near monotone that only they recognized as the surface ripples that hid a tumultuous depth.

She then took something in her hand, and pushed it to Neia's forehead. "Cute." She said simply.

"I'll leave that on, until you can replace it with a new one." Neia grinned and wiped her eyes clear so that she could see their faces again.

"You wait here, my love, take care of yourself, let us handle the world for a little while, we'll be back for you, when you're ready to rejoin it." Skana said with a gentle voice as they stood and CZ gathered up the empty boxes and they moved off the blanket.

"Thank you... for everything, for coming to see me, for sticking by me, for wanting the best for me, for trying to help me... for everything." Neia swallowed hard, and hugged them each, one by one. "I'd better get going now, I want to get ready to go to my first session."

"You've got this." Lakyus said confidently, and winked at the broken Demon of the West as she went to go put herself back together again. "We'll get that!" She added jabbing her thumb behind her, to where the gate opened, and with lingering and loving looks behind all four of them, they parted ways again.

_...Former Slane Theocracy...Forlorn Fortress..._

Tekton loaded up his cart with supplies. The sacks were heavy, his bones ached. He wiped his brow and sighed heavily before running his hands through his gray hair. "Come on Cata! We've done all we can here." Cata jogged over, her long brown hair hung down to her waist, he wondered idly when the last time was that his daughter had cut it except to snip a broken end. Her tan, freckled face was split by a wide smile as she waved goodbye to the fortress.

As she came over to her father, she grabbed his priestly robes and asked, "How'd we do?!" It was a blunt sort of question. But as he thought it over, she'd always been direct, he wondered if it ever wouldn't catch him off guard.

He rubbed his wrinkled face, "You're your mother's child, that's for sure." He said, She scrunched up her freckled face and glared at him a little.

"Father, it's a practical question. With all the real temples of the," she hesitated and looked around anxiously, then whispered very softly, "theocracy" then continued normally, "shut down for their 'investigations' into temple roles in the northern rebellion, this is the only way to serve the Six."

"I know, I know. But still, you make it sound like a business, how we do is not measured by how many relics we sell or the tithes we collect, it's measured in the wealth of those who listen to our message and find catharsis from the horrors of the war and dread for the future." Tekton said, wagging his gnarled old finger at the teenager as he spoke.

She folded her arms in front of her and turned to one side, partially away from him, and pouted. As her eyes closed with annoyance she muttered, "Not goin to spread any kinda message if you don't have food to get you from one town to the next, that's all I'm saying father."

Tekton went to the donkey that was to pull their cart and gently stroked its nose. "I know, I know, but between me and the others who have taken to the roads, we'll do what we can, as long as we can, and as far as we can, through all the provinces of our conqueror, and pass the test the gods have imposed on us, to endure... endure..." He covered his face with one hand and started to shake as tears born from brutal memories hit him again.

Cata noticed the way he trailed off, and saw him starting to shake again, her annoyance with her old man melted away and she went to hug him. She held him tight and whispered to him, "Alah Alaf has not forgotten you, or me, or mother." She said it on a loop, until he quieted down and nodded pliantly.

"Thank you, I'm sorry. The memories of that demon... her face, will I never be rid of her? I can't believe they may add a seventh to the pantheon... I just can't." He shook his head vigorously, "Well it doesn't matter what they do or what they say!" He said with gritty determination only lightly undermined by his sniffles, "We will serve the Six and 'only' the Six, forever. Come on Cata, the faithful of the true gods may be fewer in the Draconic Kingdom than they used to be... but we do neither gods nor man, any favors by neglecting those treasured few. Until the gods save us, the world is our temple, and the roads are just the path between pews." Tekton said with confidence, and pointed the way forward as his daughter sat beside him.

"As long as I'm with you, there the gods will be, father." Cata answered and leaned against him as the cart began to move.

_...Arwintar...Synod Chamber..._

Lakyus took her place in the center of the floor and looked up at the many seats filled with the many great priests of the Six. Northern Holy Kingdom, Southern Holy Kingdom, Re-Estize, Baharuth, Draconic Kingdom, and... what was 'left' of the Slane Theocracy's priesthood.

Her face lingered on those in particular, far from the wrath she expected, they appeared as broken men and women, 'I wonder if it is not better that 'she' be absent today after all.' Lakyus thought as she took their worn, haggard faces, wrinkled despite most of them not being especially old. 'The old ones... they must have been mostly killed off or died during the war, or perhaps... worse?' She wondered briefly at their fates and then cast the matter aside as irrelevant. 'Whatever they got, they deserved, that I'm sure of.' A vindictive sense of satisfaction hit her by surprise, but she clamped down on it and took a deep breath.

"We now have heard the sacred text of the Sorcerer King. His living voice has conveyed the reason for her convictions, we have recited his many deeds, either done personally or by his order. You have all toured the realm to see the peace of His Majesty, and none can deny the truth of his prosperity. We have, for all the hardship of the recent past, seen a renewal of this world, of humanity, under his aegis." She paused to let her words sink in, 'Keeno, Neia, this one's for you both.' She thought, before her voice became thunder.

"We have seen the countless testimonies of the victims of the old ways, we have seen the records from the trials, and some few of you I understand, were not satisfied even by seeing the graves with countless bodies, or the fruit of the old ways in the breaker academies. Yet it is seen, it is known. We also have recounted how the old gods failed to protect humanity from any threat to arise in the better part of a decade! They did not save humanity from the Beastmen... the Sorcerer King did! They did not save Re-Estize from famine! The Sorcerer King did! They did not save the Holy Kingdom from Jaldabaoth or restore the Holy Queen! The Sorcerer King did! I am convinced... convinced that the only reason we do not speak of the gods having failed to save humanity from any threat in the last hundred years, is because we have had no great threat that would require a god to solve!"

She moved about the center stage, her footfalls echoing to the highest seat, "I have long been a faithful servant of the Six, yet in my most dire hour, the old ways failed, and only the New Ways saved one I love. I tell you that if the gods of the past will not aid us now, who served them so loyally, then we must embrace the one that will. I, Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra, cast my vote in favor of adding the Sorcerer King to the pantheon of gods. There are not Six, there are Seven. And there is only One which I will serve from now on. I pledge myself, publicly, here and now, to the one god worthy of following! The Sorcerer King, His Majesty, Ainz Ooal Gown!"

The cacophony was profound, it sounded off the walls with their perfect acoustics with such repetitive vigor that the attendance of the place seemed to have tripled by virtue of the noise. Lakyus kept her smile to herself, she remained a hard and tranquil figure, as she took out the white stone and cast it into the great pot, making hers the first vote for the god of her New World.

She then, as if to further reveal her defiance, removed a magic dye pack, and thrust it against her heart, not coincidentally in the shape of the Black Justice military salute, and the white of her priestly robes slowly became black, in the style of the priests of the new religion.

"Now vote how you want, but whatever your vote, our god is risen over this world, and to deny that is to deny the rain when it is striking your very face, and I will deny no more!" She said passionately, and silence fell as she exited the room.

Outside, the Sorcerer King stood, and Lakyus immediately fell to one knee and bowed her head. "Your Majesty, I am yours, in all things. My debt to you for my sister can never be repaid, but I will try. You are my king, you are my god, who gave my sister a place in this world." Lakyus said formally.

"That is not an easy thing to declare, a young woman once vowed to repay a debt to me, and though she gave General Enri a city, she came home in a box. Are you sure?" Ainz asked of her, as he privately pondered, 'Why do they sound like NPCs when they get like this?'

"I am." Lakyus said with conviction that seemed as unshakable as the shining sun.

"Is that why you left, rather than wait for the rest of the voting?" Ainz asked curiously.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Lakyus answered forcefully with a hard nod of her head before it bowed again. "I don't care what they say anymore, the truth stands in front of me now. And only to that truth will I ever bend my knee again."

"Truth?" Ainz asked with interest.

"Yes. Neia worships you in the incarnation of strength and justice, her friend Tinamoc followed you as justice, prosperity, and fair deals, but for me, there is only truth. I choose this because my sister had to live a lie, and believed that the only way for me to love her, was to keep lying to me. That knowledge still leaves a deep wound on me that is slow to heal. There is no love between siblings if that love can be shattered by the truth of who we are. I will never leave them having to lie to me again... never..." Lakyus's powerful voice drifted into weakness briefly, and she wiped her eyes fiercely for several moments.

Ainz brought out 'Kingly pose number eight', and placed his skeletal hands on the top of her head as he stood squarely in front of her. "That is a good choice. For now though, rise, we can wait in the park over there, and return when the voting is done. It should only be an hour, shouldn't it?" The Sorcerer King asked.

"Two, I believe they wanted to allot some additional time for a counter speaker after me, and that one tends to ramble." Lakyus said with a roll of her eyes, "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a relief to avoid that."

"I see. I sent Leinas to pick something up for herself to eat a few minutes ago from that cafe. Go find her, get something for yourself, and then rejoin me over there." He gestured to a park bench beneath a few swaying green trees surrounding by a large circle of grass. It was a miniature park for waiting, with pleasant shading and a small protective curve. It was a perfect place to wait to cross the thoroughfare or even eat a meal from one of the many vendors that now populated this area of Arwintar.

He sat on the bench as he watched Lakyus retreat, and found it was not a long wait, she was returning with the larger, fully armored, Leinas Rockbruise. 'I swear, the two could pass for older and younger sister.' He thought to himself, 'I wonder if they're related, I seem to recall that the Kingdom and Baharuth had been united in the past... can we do DNA testing yet? It might be interesting to find out if they're family...' He shoved the thought aside hastily as they came and bent their knees in unison.

"Rise, eat, there is no rank in the mess hall, as a friend of mine once said." Ainz gestured to the trees where they could lean back against, and they opened up their thin boxed meals, small boned meat and vegetables with a lump of round cheese.

As he sat there in the gentle breeze as it caressed the numbness of his bones, and watched the passing living beings who seemed to be enjoying themselves and the feeling of the day around them, he spoke. "If any man ever heard the voice of god, it was in a garden on a cool day."

"Majesty?" Leinas asked as she set down the hunk of cheese she'd been eating.

"Nothing." Ainz waved it away, "Something one of my more poetic friends once said a long time ago. I was just thinking about how different everything is, I've had this form for a long time, and the differences it imposes are beneficial but... at the same time it blinds me sometimes to the nature of my subjects."

"Does that still trouble you, Majesty?" Leinas asked as she swallowed another bite. The white ball of cheese tasted so good on her tongue, and the very act of savoring it reminded her that he could not have that same pleasure.

"You went to see her this morning, didn't you?" He asked as he looked at Lakyus.

"I did, she told me... how you just wanted her to get better, it's why you didn't send anyone to get her, and it's why we didn't bring her with us." Lakyus answered softly.

"She's right. I have many loyal human subjects, yourself, Leinas here," he gestured to his earnest bodyguard, who nodded enthusiastically, "Enri, Calca, and others. But none like her, yet look what happened? She now sits there, struggling to restore her mind because she nearly destroyed herself, and I let it happen, it gives, I think, a new significance to 'The Project'." He said firmly.

"The Project?" Leinas asked.

"Yes. To create an object that would allow me to change out of this form again, it's chief purpose was a body that would allow me to reproduce, to create heirs." He answered as his eyes tracked a human family walking down the street with two small children.

Lakyus blushed a cherry red shade, "Oh..." She managed to utter after a coughing fit and Leinas pounded on her back a few times with the palm of her hand.

"But as I think about it," Ainz moved on, ignoring the dismay on Lakyus's face, or so lost in thought that he didn't notice, "the true significance of it might be the ability to better rule my people, by being able to experience their thoughts on their level as they do. So that the next time Neia, or someone like her, begins to fray at the edges, I do not underrate what is happening to them."

He took a deep, long, needless breath, and the sideways glances between the two women showed to each other how struck they were by his almost humanlike behavior.

"I am a god. As far as I know, I truly am the only one left in this world. My precious friends, those who left for First World, will never be forgotten, all they wanted was a world worth living in, and that desire drives me still. The horrors of that place will not touch this one, if I forget the wellbeing of those who give their all to my cause, I will in turn, be the cause of those horrors. Not everything I do is going to be 'good', but it is all for a greater end, the security and prosperity of this world. Are you prepared to follow me through all that, as she did, even though you may end up... like her, despite my effort to prevent that?"

He spoke with sincerity, with nobility and he held his hands out as if to take their own, but they could barely move.

'He's never said that before, as far as I know. The last time we spoke of it, he said, 'if' about being a god, but now he declares it to be so... even before the vote, has something changed?' Lakyus wondered in breathless awe as she took in his words, they were weighty ones even without the hefty declaration of his godhood.

She swallowed, she could tell from Leinas's face that a resolution like her own was brewing within her breast.

"Majesty, I am yours, give me the task, and I will carry it out, confident that you act to make this world one worth fighting for." Lakyus replied with abject devotion.

Leinas bowed her head, "My vow remains as it ever was, I am yours, in all things, you gave me back my body when the gods would not, when all abandoned me and my emperor failed me, you supported me. If you order me to carve a bloody path through the very heart of distant Menowa to give you the minotaurs into your service, then it will be done."

"I wouldn't plan on any trips to Menowa, there are 'other' things in the works for that place." Ainz said with a gentle chuckle. "But your vows are well received."

He glanced over and saw the door to the building open, "Oh good, it looks like they're ready." He said pleasantly and stood up.

'Other plans... how far ahead does he think?!' Lakyus wondered as they stood up to follow him.

Into the grand hall they went, and a priest of the Baharuth Empire approached. In the center of the room there now stood two moderately sized pots. He reached into the large one where the common votes had been cast together, and put a white one in the pot on the right. "One for deification."

He reached out again, "Two... for deification."

Each time he reached in and took out a stone, he held it up for all to see, before putting it in the pot on the right.

It was forty five minutes before the first black stone was held aloft. "One... against deification."

A rumble of dismay went about the room as priests and priestesses cast their eyes about, wondering who could have cast a black stone, but down below, the old priest simply held the stone and held his tongue, until the noise subsided and it was cast with a loud echo into the pot. It created such noise that he waited a full minute for silence to descend entirely, thus revealing in the angry throw, where he stood on the matter.

It was another forty minutes before the second black stone was held aloft. "Two... against deification."

The rumble was renewed, but Ainz and his companions stood silent and dignified until silence was renewed, another clang of the stone into the left pot was the only indication of the old priest's displeasure.

"Two hundred and eighteen... for deification." He said solemnly, and placed the last white stone with delicate precision atop the nearly overflowing pot, while it's mate next to it, appeared empty unless one could look straight down within to see the two lonely black stones resting at the bottom.

"Final tally, two hundred and eighteen, to two, in favor of deification. His Majesty, Ainz Ooal Gown, the Sorcerer King, will officially be added to the pantheon as the seventh god, to every single temple in the empire!" He did not restrain his smile as the cheers echoed up and down the chamber and washed over the chamber like a cleansing rain swept aside the old to make room for the new.

"Well done, Sudon." Ainz said quietly as he approached and put his skeletal hand on the old priest's shoulder, "Your integrity will not be forgotten, in even counting those who stand opposed. You are my true servant."

The old man paled and then his eyes lit up, unable to form words, he bowed, and stepped aside to give the Sorcerer King center stage.

Ainz held his arms aloft, calling for silence from the Synod's attendees.

With a noble voice, he spoke with firmness and fortitude, and his red orbs that served for eyes within the black, seemed to be focused on every person there at once, and he said...

"It is done. And yet, for all that, it has only just begun."


	21. Home

The Synod: The Book of Black Justice

By AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 21: Home

_...Arwintar..._

Goosebumps rose on the bodies of the assembled leaders of the... 'Seven', as one stood with eyes red and penetrating their very cores.

Ainz spoke slowly, allowing the echo to stay ahead of his every word. "You have changed the world today. Let it be decreed in every temple, send my sacred text to all, and the priests and priestesses who were mine alone, are now part of the assembly of all. I will leave it to you who lead these great institutions to decide how to integrate them into your ranks, but know this as well. Many of my worshippers are nonhumans, and there will be no preaching of human supremacy in any temple anywhere in the Sorcerous Empire. That way lies destruction, as the recent war has so clearly shown. To save humanity, I must ensure that humanity does not turn its neighbors against itself."

He let that sink in as he sold the peace, and then continued, "We all share this world, and either we learn to live together, or we sentence the children of countless generations yet even born, to horrible deaths. Take one... no... two days to celebrate your decision here in Arwintar, all of you, at my expense, and then return here to be sent home by my magic."

"Divine one... where will you go?" The high priest asked eagerly.

"I will go to deliver word to the human who worked hardest for this hour, she should hear it from me, and know how proud I am of her." Ainz said solemnly.

Sudon bowed his head, "That is right."

"Yes, it is." Ainz said softly, and the gate opened a moment later, and he was gone.

_...Illyana's House..._

Ainz entered the building to the surprise he expected on the many faces of those who were arriving, residing, visiting, or working in the recovery facility. Those who sat on chairs lined against the wall, some still in their damaged uniforms, others with grim or haunted looks but dressed in civilian clothing, whatever the case, their response was alike. They knelt.

"Who bled or broke themselves for their neighbor, my kingdom and cause, should stand in my presence, that they can better defend my kingdom and their lives again." Ainz said as he struck 'wise and benevolent king pose number eight', with his back squared in the entryway, he held his hands out and upturned at waist height.

"You did well, you won the world, now... win back yourselves, and know that your king is proud of you, and will be for as long as the kingdom endures." Ainz said in his most charismatic voice, briefly thinking, 'Thank you Jircniv, for all those lessons.'

Many of them fell to tears, some collapsed into their chairs again in awe of his presence as he moved past them. It took no time at all for him to be approached by an elven nurse, she knelt and bowed her head. "Your Majesty. I am 'her' nurse. Enlaith. I assume you want to be taken to her?" She said quickly.

"I do." He replied in a low but confident voice.

"Please, follow me and I will take you to her room." Enlaith said in an equally hushed tone, and when he gestured for her to move, she stood and walked swiftly down the hall.

The footfalls echoed the gentle pace of the walk, and Ainz resisted the urge to tell her to hurry. 'She's doing her job as she knows how, I always hated that, when people would frustrate my work by trying to make me rush when there was a reason for my pace.' He thought to himself as he briefly recalled his life before the New World.

"How is she?" He asked, keeping his tone carefully neutral.

"She slept. I understand that is something of a rarity. And... she seems to genuinely want to get better. She attended a session with a group of other veterans this morning, we taught her some of the soothing techniques Lady Pestonya brought to use from your divine realm. Things to help keep her grounded, controlled, and draw back when one of those moments struck. She's also taken to painting to help cope, her work isn't... actually bad, it's like she'd done it before." Enlaith remarked with a mildly impressed tone of voice at the end.

Ainz spoke with a small hint of pride in his voice. "She has. Part of her training in Nazarick included painting, to learn to gather impressions quickly. She would have a few seconds to look at a scene, and then she would paint it without looking again. I kept all her work, though... she doesn't know that."

'He sounds like my father did, when speaking of me.' Enlaith thought to herself, and continued, "You should put those in a gallery one day, she might blush a bit at her early efforts, but, I'm sure people would be curious."

"I may take that advice, but I have to ask for now... is she alright to leave, at least for a short time?" Ainz asked with very clear concern in every syllable.

Enlatih thought for a moment, "I think so, if she's looked after. I've had orderlies checking on her room, and... I won't tell you she's always seeming to do well, last night and this morning were important milestones but... please understand, Your Majesty..." Enlaith stopped, turned and prostrated herself unexpectedly with her head to the floor, "what I need to say now, I do not say to displease you, I love her, as do all elves, we revere her as the agent of our freedom, our avenger, as the body of divine wrath sent to deliver us from monsters... may I speak it, though it may displease you?"

Ainz froze as she did all this in one fluid motion and rushed the words out like a torrent. "Yes." Was all he managed.

"Majesty there is no single thing that will ever cure her. This isn't a plague, or a severed limb. She will... almost certainly, fight this battle for as long as she lives. There will be no 'Siege of Prart' moment, that serves as a turning point that will give her a sudden turnaround and then one day she'll be just who she was when you met her. She will have to live with little victories, small improvements... yes, some things will be bigger than others. But I know what you wonder, when will she be 'whole'? Am I wrong?"

Ainz was quiet.

She took that as his answer, "Majesty, even pieced together, the broken vessel will have its cracks still, and she'll spend her life patching them, this doesn't mean she'll never be happy, or that she'll spend the rest of her life drinking herself to sleep at night and raging at those around her during the day. But it means that dealing with all of these will take time and effort, and that no amount of either can erase them, or her other problems, forever. She... she may always have some of these struggles. I am sorry, if I... If I could bear it for her, after what she did for us..." Enlaith's voice quivered, but as he looked down at her, he understood it was not out of fear of his wrath that her voice shook like a trembling leaf.

"I understand. Even coming to get help, that in and of itself was a large step, for those who are proud, or those who fear judgement, or those who dread weakness or being seen as weak... even getting help can hurt as much as the very thing you need help healing from in the first place. So she's taken a step... but her recovery, her coping, is a journey, not a destination, and the steps never end." Ainz said with a note of understanding that made Enlaith's heart ache.

"Yes, My Lord. I... I feared you would not understand, at least not so well as you do... that you would want to know when she was cured, that we couldn't do that, I beg your forgiveness for underestimating your wisdom." Enlaith said with eagerness, 'He is otherworldly... no wonder she was willing to go so far for him...' She thought with a profound sense of awe at his majesty and insight.

"It is given, now, take me to my Neia." He said gently, and she quickly rose and took him the rest of the way.

She peeked into the window of the heavy locked door, "She's awake, calm, it's OK to see her." Enlaith said soothingly.

"You intended to urge me away if she were not, didn't you?" Ainz said in a voice that sounded not the least bit amused.

Enlaith nodded soberly, "I am a nurse here, taking care of my patients is what I do."

"I am proud that you are among my servants." Ainz said with quiet reverence, "I knew a nurse once, long ago, who was like that. She died giving her all. You may go now, I will take things from here."

She bowed her head, humbled and proud beyond words, as she knocked, opened the door for the King, and stepped away to give them privacy.

When the door closed, Neia got up from the bed where she lay reading a book, still dressed in a blue robe, she crossed the room, casting the book aside, and embraced him tightly, burying her face into his robe.

"My lord, my king, my father, my god." She said happily, "Do I even need to ask? No, I don't, do I?"

"No, after everything? You don't. The vote was not universal... but it was overwhelming." Ainz said as he put his boney hands on her shoulders and drew her back to look at her.

Instantly shadow swept aside the sky blue of her eyes. "There were those who dared vote against your divinity...?" For a moment, bright red points flared in the darkness of her eyes, pulsing in and out like a flash of light repeating in the darkness.

"Who will not support my god, will betray him. Give the order father, and let me break them. Too many died, to allow denial to continue now." Her voice reverberated off the walls of her room, but the rage began to calm as she felt his hands caress run through her hair.

"There is no need. Those two who voted against me, have only voted to end their beliefs forever." Ainz chuckled mildly, "As they struggle to promote their faith, which fails every time, against my will that always triumphs, they can only make of themselves a mockery, until they all die out on their own. Let them pass with a whimper, like a candle run out of wick and wax alike, and left forever behind."

"A-As you say, my lord." Neia said as she calmed herself under his slow touch. "I wanted to be there... I did, I really did..." She added as she looked down at his feet.

"You were." He answered cryptically, "And now, if you are willing, I want to show you something... special."

She raised her head with a questioning look in her curious eyes.

He reached behind himself and took the door handle, then opened it. A gate appeared just beyond. "Will you follow me again, Neia Baraja?" Ainz asked, and as she nodded with silent eagerness, her head bobbing like mad, though robbed of speech by the moment, she followed him without a second's hesitation as he entered the gate.

Her blue robe and slippers did not make a sound as she stepped over the floor, and left the empty room behind.

When she looked around after crossing to the other side. Around her was a great, wide field, green grass was abundant, rolling hills, isolated trees filled with leaves, and overhead the sun shone brightly against a blue sky only lightly speckled with soft looking white clouds.

Neia scratched her head, "This place... it is beautiful, but father, why are we here? And where exactly are we?"

Ainz held up a finger over his jaw, indicating silence, until another gate opened, and the auburn haired wife of the Black Paladin appeared. Confusion was etched on her face until the instant she saw her wife, and she pounced like a tigress on her prey and wrapped her arms around Neia's neck and drew her in.

Ainz discreetly looked away as Neia discomfitingly disengaged herself, jerking her head towards the Sorcerer King. Skana blushed and rubbed her head sheepishly.

"Sorry, Sire." She grinned with equal sheepishness that showed she wasn't as sorry as all that.

"Neia, ask your question again." Ainz instructed her patiently after an uncomfortable cough got him back on track.

She did, and Ainz put his back to them and swept his arm out across his body to encompass the whole of the open field. "To answer your last question first, you are a few miles Southwest of Carne, and to answer your first question last, we are here to give you something." Ainz's emotional inhibitor kicked into overdrive with his excitement, the giving and receiving of gifts, the memories of both, were close at hand and he seldom got the chance to do something as grand as this.

"Something?" Neia asked, and took her wife's hand in her own.

"Yes." Ainz answered, "Years ago, before you first knelt before me, the Demon Emperor and his armies ravaged your homeland. They destroyed your village, and I know you have been 'homeless' ever since. You have done much for my cause, and served me with such absolute loyalty, that to leave you bereft of a home after it all, or forced to replace it yourself, is utterly unacceptable."

Neia felt her heart pounding in her chest. A look at her wife, and the feel of the squeezing of one another's hands, and she knew Skana was feeling the same rush.

"Therefore I chose this site, and on it, I will raise a home for you, and not for you alone, but to be held by all future popes after you retire to Nazarick to become a Guardian of the Faith in your immortality." Ainz spoke grandly, though he could not smile, Neia felt the satisfaction and anticipation coming off of him as she watched the way he moved with his back to her.

Then it hit her. 'Immortality? Me? A Guardian? Do I... am I... really fit to live forever? I... this requires much thought.'

Before she could raise any objection, the magic of the Sorcerer King stunned her into silence for what must have been the thousandth time, as but a few words from him, accompanied by a sweeping gesture, and from the ground, as if it were a plant, a building began to rise.

'No... not a building... this is... a complex.' Neia thought with open mouthed wonderment as she saw the multistory structure rise above the ground. Nor was it the last of what she saw rising. From around the exterior, fountains rose and water shot to the sky only to arch down and strike with the constancy of a flowing stream, around the massive grounds... the earth moved aside and streams connected one fountain to another and wound like a snake from a singularly large great spring on one side of the grounds. The building itself was a marvel, with its many whorling patterns within the stone and wood that made Neia think of watching dancers from overhead and tracing out the path of their movement over a great wide floor.

The great structure made the earth shake as the world gave birth to Neia's home, but the very shaking of the pains of the world itself were nothing compared to the shaking of Neia's own body as she fell to her knees in transcendent awe as a feeling came over her that she had not known she had.

Finally it was done, he dropped his arms, the world itself ceased its rumble, and he turned to find her with wide and tearful eyes and speaking in a voice almost lacking in any breath. "I'd forgotten what it felt like... to have a home. I've been so used to thinking of myself as having none, no place of my own in this world, having only dreams of a place to stay to sustain me... this is real, isn't it father? I'm not back in Illyana's House, dreaming? I'm not back in the cave of The Resistance, dreaming while I hide from Jaldabaoth?"

"This is real, this is yours, and will not be taken from you. Now, I have not furnished it. I thought you and your wife might enjoy doing that yourselves." Ainz said in passing. "You may sort through the endless materials of Nazarick for furnishing it, or you may use your considerable wealth as you see fit to acquire goods from anywhere you wish, the use of [Gate] will be provided liberally to go anywhere." He said as he crouched down in front of her, Skana had already gone behind her and wrapped her arms around her kneeling wife to kiss the top of her head.

"I had ample rewards set aside for you, so that you would want for nothing when your work was done, so that if after giving so much, you wished to retire in peace, you could do so at ease in the knowledge that you would never know want again." Ainz said as the bones of his hand touched her cheek and wiped away a drop descending from her eyes.

"I know you wish to get better, so stay at Illyana's House for now, work on yourself and your wellbeing, but know that 'when' you leave there, 'when' you come away from that ordeal's greatest hurdles, there is a place for you in this world. You have a future, Neia Baraja. You have a life out here, if you want it. We will none of us forget you, whether you reside away from us for a week, a month, a year, or however long it takes." Ainz said to her, his blank face was not far away, his enormous red orbs pulsed like the embers of a fire whose temperature was in constant flux.

"I... can I go inside, look around, you know, before I go back?" Neia asked as if fearing it was all going to vanish with the question.

Ainz stood, and held out his hand, and answered as he helped her to rise again to her feet and swept the other hand toward the door. "Yes, it is yours, like your life, explore it as much as you want, however you want, for as long as you want. That is the point of it all."

He said, and stepped aside, and watched as the Pope and her wife, in the sudden throes of childlike excitement, sprinted over the space between where they were in front of him, and the front door, and disappeared inside.


	22. Change & Reunion

The Synod: The Book of Black Justice

By AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 22: Change & Reunion

_...Hoburns..._

Calca set the document down with an enormous smile on her face. "They did it."

Robel looked over to her with a question in his eyes. She didn't wait for him to ask, she simply handed him the document. "I always knew it would happen, but... never this way." He remarked in a youthful and vigorous voice. "Gilcrest, Gascon... everyone... it's done." He whispered to the ghosts of the years gone by, recalling the first time he saw the future pope stand before her betters and declare a god to be, that was not of the Six, to declare him justice. 'A short life and a shallow grave, that's what I thought she'd have, now... here we are. I hope you're happy out there, my Pope.' He thought to himself, and then he solemnly set the paper back into the hands of the Holy Queen and wiped his eyes clear again.

"Holiday, this deserves a holiday spread throughout the kingdom, have the magic casters start sending out messages, priority one, and break out the wine, break open the storehouses, I want the whole city celebrating within the hour, and the whole kingdom before noon!" Calca said as she shot to her feet and announced it to the entirety of the court. About her hall, nobles and commoners ran like mad to carry out her will, and as Robel watched, he saw for himself, countless other ecstatic faces that mirrored his own. 'This... this is going to be fun.' he thought, and went to play his part.

_...Re-Estize..._

Princess Renner... the Outer Guardian and the power behind the throne, stood a few feet away from her older brother as he sat behind the desk in what was once their father's private office. "We knew it was inevitable, sister of mine, must you treat me as an imbecile when you tell me this?" King Zanac asked with a hint of annoyance.

Renner's smile was smug, "Maybe, but I knew it, 'first' brother of mine. I spent my life having to hide the fact that I was smarter than the rest of you, show some patience and let me indulge myself without complaint when I'm finally able to revel in it openly."

King Zanac sighed and rubbed his face, "Well, if it helps, a lot of people who didn't think much of your intelligence are feeling very stupid right now."

"It does." She nodded sharply and the wings that wrapped around her body quivered a little. "But you don't seem happy about his elevation, brother. Not harboring any disloyal thoughts, are we now?" She smirked at him, and he barely kept the shudder he felt, from coming out.

"No. No nothing like that." Zanac reassured her, with wide eyes, and a firm shake of his head. "Speaking frankly I'm not one to doubt this decision, after everything, I just can't disbelieve. But... I'm no religious leader, and I never paid much attention to the priests either, except when politics demanded it, so what really changes?"

Renner's pure white eyes returned to their natural blue, "Not for nothing were you my favorite brother, Barbro was an ignorant blowhard. You were right not to listen to those prattling fools before, but brother, not for nothing am 'I' the equivalent of a guardian, while you are not. I see things you don't see, and I see opportunity."

She watched the spark spring to life in his eyes, 'At least I have one relative who is not a complete idiot, he might have made for a passably good king, even without all that has happened.' She pondered for a moment as she watched him rethink the declaration.

"Yes... I see, their temples integrate themselves thoroughly into society, the merchant class is favoring them and their guards, the farmers hire their undead labor, the need for their priests will grow, we can establish a school for their theology, build it into the planned school for the arts and tie our skilled classes inextricably to His Majesty so that our province becomes like his right hand, close enough to rival Baharuth, and our people will benefit enormously from that." He reasoned out as he rubbed his chin and looked down in thought under Outer Guardian Renner's watchful eye.

Renner raised a single finger in front of herself, prompting him to look up as she sought his eyes and ears. "All that will do for... a start. But for now, brother, I suggest you announce a holiday, be seen publicly celebrating the decision of the Synod, show everyone that you're with him in every way. The old gods have been dead for a long time, they never cared where you stood or what you did, but this one, this one is as alive as any undead being can be, and his many servants, care very much how leaders portray themselves and how they behave."

"That, sister, is some of the best advice you could possibly give, come, let's go celebrate, and bring your, ahem..." he coughed uncomfortably, "future husband, let's go as a family." Zanac said and rose to his feet and went out from behind his desk.

"You may not be as sharp as I am brother, but you're no idiot at least." Renner said as she extended her arm to allow him to take it.

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Zanac remarked unironically, and went out the door of his office, as Renner laughed a laugh that was as beautiful as it was chilling.

_...Draconic Kingdom...Palace..._

When word reached Queen Draudillon of the Synod vote, she could only smirk. Not a word passed her lips. None were needed. General Oma took her head off, set it in hand, and held it out in front of where the Queen sat looking out over her buzzing court. "You never tire of that little party trick, do you?" Draudillon asked the head.

"No, I don't." Oma's head was smiling enormously, "I'm finding that being a dullahan is a great deal of fun. Not least for the consternation it creates." Her head laughed hard enough to bounce her dark hair behind her as it hung free in the air. "Of course we all knew this was coming, but I have to ask... you had a hand in the way our priests voted, didn't you?"

Musan chuckled before the Queen could answer. "Actually, I took care of a fair part of that before she even gave the order." The Queen and Oma looked over to him in surprise.

"You can't be all that surprised? Our divine lord saved our country from being eaten alive, when all I could do was send young men and women to their deaths. I started getting rid of priests who were critical of the Sorcerer King, about five years ago. Nothing 'nefarious' just making sure they were 'retired' or got dangerous postings that made 'retirement' highly likely." His smug look went very dark.

Vermillion, who stood opposite the two leaders at her left hand, nodded, "I confess I was about the same business in the areas I had influence." His slender features, more care worn than Queen Draudillon remembered, looked suddenly very tired and worn.

"I see, so when I ordered only those 'loyal' to be sent?" She asked.

"There were only loyal ones left." Musan and Vermillion remarked in unison.

Queen Draudillon threw back her head and laughed on her throne, "That's the kind of initiative that will either break, or make, a nation, and this time, I think it will make us great beyond measure."

_...Crescent Lake..._

"So he's now officially a god, recognized by the humans as the seventh to be added to the pantheon." General Thirg reported casually.

His sister, councilor Tefl, shrugged it off. "Took them long enough, and it doesn't matter anyway."

"About that, Tefl is right, good to keep up with the goings on of other provinces but... while the humans may have seven... we elves have only One. The one to set us free." Zesshi said from the throne that was feeling far more comfortable under her than it once had. "Still, we should celebrate with our sister provinces. If for no other reason than those thick headed humans finally caught on to what they should have all known immediately." Zesshi said and pointed to a servant. "You, go have word dispatched to every bar, tavern, restaurant, and winery that for one day only, we will cover the cost of every drink that toasts His Majesty's divinity."

She stood up from her throne, and the twins stepped aside for her to descend. "Majesty, where are you going?" Thirg asked as he looked over to a nearby guard, who moved to leave his post.

Zesshi raised her hand to stop him, "No, no guards, I just want to take a walk, by myself today. I hear it's a good thing for rulers to do now and then, so I might as well get used to it."

They bowed lightly and she walked out through the buzzing court by herself, down the great palace, out the door, and into the streets. While she was often bowed to, she was little approached, her black and white hair danced freely behind her, and her piercing heterochromatic eyes shone brightly as they caught the light. The great waters of Crescent Lake were visible from this upper part of the elven city, and seemed still as a looking glass on their own, broken only by the many boats that went back and forth ferrying goods and passengers from one side to the other.

As Zesshi walked, waving in passing to her people, her royal armor of green and black, a gift of His Majesty after her post war official coronation, caught countless eyes. 'I wonder how she's taking it, probably over the moon.' Zesshi thought to herself as she recalled the diminutive pope that had done so much, not only to free her people, but to soften the elven hatred and contempt for humans that would surely have sprung up at the war's end had she not been... herself.

In idle thought the half elf Queen walked the streets without direction, until she saw a book shop and thought of the elf boy who had utterly crushed her. 'Yes, a present, I should buy something for him to commemorate the day, maybe send something for his sister too. Couldn't hurt. He likes books, she likes rare beasts, perhaps a book on what rare monsters live in my province for her, and something adventurous for him.' She mused as she pushed the light tan colored door open and entered the shop.

A small bell rang as the Queen entered and looked around the shop, shelves lined the walls and were split into long rows, she raised an eyebrow at the plentiful nature of the place's supply. 'This is an astute owner to have amassed so many for sale. A little help might be needed here.' Zesshi said to herself and approached the counter, a woman was behind it, looking down at a book of her own.

"I need a few books." Queen Zesshi remarked, and the woman looked up, and her mouth dropped open.

"Zesshi?!" She said, agog.

Zesshi frowned slightly, "It's 'Queen Zesshi' I realize I'm not the most formal monarch but..." She stopped, she stared long and hard at the open mouthed woman, the recognition in her eyes was clear and obvious. "You know me, how? Something about you is vaguely familiar as well..."

'I sense no hostility, only recognition and... regret?' Zesshi didn't reach for the sword at her side that she carried in lieu of her traditionally preferred scythe.

The woman's face fell. "I owe you a very deep, very great apology. Can I... ask for a moment of you, My Queen?" The book seller asked.

Zesshi tilted her head toward the door, and the elven woman rushed to lock it and put up the closed sign. "Tea?" She asked, and Zesshi quietly nodded.

The proprietor led her to the back, and a few minutes of rushing later, there were two cups poured as they sat on small ornate wooden furniture. "I'll be expanding this shop to include a place to drink tea, it seems like a good idea, people can relax, read, drink, and have a few light snacks to idle away the day. What do you think, Your Majesty?" The proprietor said as she laid a small plate of long sugar dusted bread crusts between the two of them.

"I think it'll make you rich, but what I really want to know is how you know me...?" Zesshi began with a furrowed brow.

"Bertra, that's the name I go by now. It means 'to carry between' sort of, in a dead language of..." She dropped her voice to very low, "First World." Bertra said and held Zesshi's eyes.

The eyes of the Queen narrowed instantly. "And before your name was 'Bertra' what was it?"

The woman calling herself Bertra, hung her head in a gesture of shame. "I'm so sorry... please know that, I am not saying this because you're here, or because I'm afraid of what you'll do to me, I truly wish things had gone differently, that I'd listened to you. That I'd heard you and seen what was going on... back when my name was 'Berenice' and I was a Cardinal of the Six."

Zesshi's narrowed eyes went wide. "You're alive... you're really she... I thought... how?"

Bertra lowered her gaze, "A bargain gone very wrong, or very right, depending on how you look at it. After he rescued me, the Sorcerer King let me stay in Nazarick for a few weeks, and let me see some of his domain, I was very well treated there. When the Forton conference began, I asked to observe. He made a bargain with me, if I would allow an experiment in transformation to be done on me, to turn me into an elf to work as a servant, he would allow me to go. I was... there, I served you tea once, I saw it all. But the experiment went wrong, and I couldn't return to being human. So... His Majesty rewarded me with a handful of valuable coins and chose to let me live out my life elsewhere. I chose here. Opened a book shop, and now here you are."

Berenice summed up in a hushed voice which told Queen Zesshi that the former Cardinal's sense of awe over it all had yet to fade.

"Now... you know who I am, and I am your subject, in your power, to do with as you want." Bertra lowered her eyes humbly. "I won't blame you, if you end my life, as Raymond said once, a few weeks of decency doesn't erase a lifetime of wrong."

Zesshi didn't respond right away, she instead sipped the tea and dipped the baked bread into it, stirring it for a bit before she took a bite. "If I overlook the fact that you live, and are here, what will you do with your life?" She asked.

"You've changed. A few years ago, my head would already be on the floor." Berenice said, but then continued, "I will try to understand more of the different flesh I find myself in... try to make a life for myself, but also try to build bridges... to break the past. I have a whole set of shelves for elves to write the narratives of their lives, so that the wrongs endured under the Theocracy will indict it forever, and I'm exporting those to the human kingdoms, it isn't much, but it is what I can do." Her head still hung, but sincerity dripped from her every word.

Zesshi nodded slightly, "I won't take your head, former Cardinal. But I will be ordering some of those books to have them copied and distributed to the lending libraries all over the Sorcerous Empire. You were wrong, but your death for that won't fix anything, and the name he gave you, I think he gave you for a reason. Put your new life to use, making up for the old. Nobody will know who you were, not from my lips. But I have to ask, you've probably heard, given the buzz about the city before I'd even gone fifty yards from the palace, about the Synod vote, how do you feel about that?"

Bertra slowly raised her head, "It was the right decision. Maybe a new god is what this world needs, not just to follow, but to set an example. Maybe Neia was right all along. I may mourn some things of the past that were part of my life, but something new is starting, and I want to see what that is. I keep a candle lit for my friends so I don't forget but... we'll make tomorrow better with One or Seven, than we ever did with just those Six."

"Good outlook, now, I need a few books, perhaps you can help me." Queen Zesshi said as she drained her cup and stood.

Bertra was only a hair behind her and led the way back out to the many shelves, "Of course, Your Majesty, what are you looking for?" She said in a professional tone as she began to point out various sections, a smile on her face reflected in the glass window at the front of the shop.

_...Illyana's House..._

"So... that is what happened. That is what I did, and that is why I did it." The young man said in a hollow voice, "And that is why I haven't had a good night's sleep since."

Neia looked around at the others in the room, a half a dozen veterans like her, two other women, she saw her face in each one of them, the face she had when she wasn't wearing a mask. The room was mostly empty, distraction free.

"Neia, your turn." The group counselor said to her after thanking the previous speaker.

She swallowed. "I don't know what to say. Everybody knows who I am, most of my deeds... what can I tell you that you haven't heard already?" She asked, without even a hint of pride.

"Tell us what we don't know, but that gets to you nonetheless." The counselor urged her.

She rubbed the back of her left hand with the palm of her right and met no eyes for a long moment. "I wear a mask because I think I have to. I can't show anybody the things I'm thinking, so I'm always hiding it behind either politeness, if for no other reason so they don't see how angry I really am, how hopeless I really feel. I feel like a turtle who can't poke its head out of its own shell. I don't even know why I wear the mask anymore except that I'm used to it, and I don't know how not to anymore. I'm outwardly the impossibly strong... but inwardly I'm dying, my own mind is tearing me apart worse than my torturer ever did. Remedios... the things she did... the things I saw, the things I ordered done... the things I did myself. I'm twisted up in so many knots that I don't even know how to untangle them anymore. But I want to... that's why I'm here. After I tried to take my life, all I thought about was wanting to live, and when I knew I would... well, here I am. Maybe I can't be who I was, but I can still find a life with who I am. At least, I'll try to."

_...Illyana's House...Weeks Later..._

"She is alive, if you want to confront her." Ainz said as he stood in Neia's room.

"Alive? Remedios is alive...?! But father, I took her head?!" Neia sat on the bed and stared at him with eyes that seemed to have lost the power to blink.

She sat mute as Ainz explained the 'head' project and that Remedios's head was now the last living part of her, and that every time a nonhuman approached her, she would burst into flames. Neia sat, and listened, at first a look of hurt and betrayal crossed her face as she learned he'd restored her enemy to life, but hot on its heels was a peaceful smile of vindictiveness. "That... seems fitting, given her fondness for burning my followers. But why... confront her?"

"Because of what she did to you. Because of what she'd done to you before, because you have questions that nobody else alive can answer, all the others are gone." Ainz replied from where he sat.

The quiet stretched between them, before he went on, "I am a god. I can do much, but for you, who I think of as if you were one of my own children, who I cannot see any other way, I can do nothing. Your recovery is in your hands and your hands alone, I will not order this, but if you wish to get answers, to things before the war itself, before you were enemies, she is your best chance."

"Father... can you open the gate, please? And... may I have privacy with her?" Neia asked after pondering what he'd had to say, she stood up from the bed, the gate opened, and she was gone.

_...Somewhere in the Elf Kingdom..._

"You look like shit." Neia said as she looked down at the head of Remedios, before pulling large rock over and sitting at eye level with the remnants of her former rival. Her head was sitting on a long tubelike object that ran into a small black box, and several more tubes ran up from within which were in turn secured to the tube her head sat centered on.

Remedios looked at her silently, as if trying to tell if she was seeing something real, or if it was a delusion.

"Neia... Neia Baraja... you... here? Undead loving bitch, have you come to watch me burn...?" Remedios asked defiantly.

"No. Not that." Neia replied benignly. "Nobody will interrupt us, and you won't suffer while I'm here. I've just come with a question, maybe more than one." Neia's face was almost gentle, and Remedios felt a profound discomfort stir in her at the difference between this and the monster she recalled.

"Is this a trick?" She asked with a furrowed brow.

"There's nothing left of you but a head, no reason to trick you." Neia said with a dismissive snort.

"Ask your question then." Remedios grumbled.

"I... want to know something, way back then, before the war, when we were all desperate and in the same boat... you'd already decided you despised me. That much was clear. But... why all the rest? Out of all of you, the only one to say two words of decency to me before His Majesty was Gustav. I want to know why? What did I do to deserve that?"

Remedios narrowed her eyes. "You really have no idea? No, this is a trick, isn't it?" Her voice began to fill with panic as the facade of courage started to fade. "No... you're here to torture me, aren't you... you have to hate me more than anyone else alive... you're here to... what are you going to do to me?! What else do you want from me?! I'm nothing but a head now! Isn't it enough that I feel flames peel my flesh off every day whenever an elf or a demihuman walks past me on this cursed road?!"

Neia let the woman rant, the brown hair and proud face were both no more, and she felt something very unexpected as she looked at the head shake as if trying to dislodge herself and escape. Nothing. She felt nothing. Not even the satisfaction she expected.

"How about if I tell you when your suffering is going to end." Neia proposed, and Remedios went silent as the tomb.

"Really?" Remedios asked hopefully, her face was desperate beyond measure.

"Yes." Neia folded her arms in front of herself. "Really."

"Fine, you got what you got because you weren't one of us. You wore the uniform, sure. You did your job, but out of all of us... you were the only one to not object to seeking help from the Sorcerer King. You didn't even think about what the gods thought about it... it is true we went along for it, but though you came from us, you weren't one of us. You were unrighteous, how could we have anything to do with you?!" Remedios spat the last words out with unrepentant hatred.

"Oh." Neia whispered as she thought back. "I see now... Gods over comrades, how did I not notice that before?"

Remedios could not really nod, but Neia could see the condemnation in her eyes. "If you'd been one of us, you'd have known that, they come first, before friends, before family, before comrades, before everything else, everything you ever got from us, you got because we knew you weren't really one of us at heart, and you went and proved that better than I ever imagined. I was right to hurt you, I was only wrong in that I didn't kill you. If I could have hurt you worse... you know how I pass the time between burnings..." Hate and vindictiveness filled Remedios's voice, and when Neia didn't answer, she went on, "I fill it with fantasies of all the ways I'd torture you if I got the chance again. Sometimes it's petty, like how I could have said harsher words as we went to E-Rantel, maybe belittled you more... other times I think of how I cut you up in Hoburns, and imagine cutting you more you undead loving bitch." Remedios spat vindictively.

"My hate for you is my favorite entertainment." Remedios glared, "Now tell me, how does this nightmare end!" She screeched into the silent area around them.

Neia reached out to the hateful remains of Remedios, and stroked her head slowly, Remedios trembled with rage until Neia drew her hand back and let it fall at her side. "Your suffering will end when as much of you has burned as your victims. My lord is just, you endure what you inflict, depending on how many you burned, you may be here for a year, or a thousand years, that I don't know. But I know this... that it will end. Let that knowledge be my parting gift to you. I got what I wanted, in more ways than one, and I can do something quite unexpected because of it."

Remedios frowned. "Unexpected?" She asked.

"Yes, I can let go, I realize how small you all were now, how petty, how... weak, you're like the six, dead, but inside. I don't want to be 'you' anymore, so I'm going to let go, and if I'm lucky, I'll think of you only rarely, and if I can manage it, I'll never think of you again, but if I do... it will be with pity." Neia said and touched Remedios's face as the head shook with anger at the tranquil response of the former squire.

"Oh, one more thing." Neia said as she turned away, "The Synod voted to include the Sorcerer King into the canon, there are now 'Seven' gods, not six. It was two hundred and eighteen to two."

When the gate opened, she heard Remedios howl at her back as she stepped away and left the woman alone, and to her redoubled surprise, she felt no real satisfaction at the woman's agony, instead she thought, 'What a waste.' And remembered the hanging of the priest who tried to assassinate her, and that she'd thought the same thing the day he died.

"Getting there." She thought with relief as she went to her room and laid on the bed and fell into a blessed, dreamless sleep.


	23. The Things You Get Used To

The Synod: The Book of Black Justice

By AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 23: The Things You Get Used To

_...Nazarick...Three Months Post Synod..._

"So the temples over most of Baharuth have been modified, the dwarven sculptors and stone cutters have been working nonstop to add Your Majesty to the reliefs of the former Six, and without prompting, they set you atop them all." Albedo read the document before the assembly with glowing golden eyes and a body that did not even try to disguise her trembling excitement.

"On my last trip to Re-Estize, I saw lines out the door to join the fighting orders and other academies of Black Justice and it's order, everything from paladins to priests, applicants are everywhere." Shalltear added as soon as Albedo stopped speaking.

"In the Holy Kingdom, Calca has offered special identification cards to students and members who are Your Majesty's devotees, these give them discounts on the use of special government services and licenses. The cards are sponsored by the merchant guild under Tinamoc, and they will use no escorts but our own." Sebas reported with quiet dignity in his voice.

"An excellent idea, the mute merchant and the queen were worth reviving." Ainz remarked in passing, "Ensure that word of their actions spreads far and wide, and try to allot some small bonus benefits to those who thought of it first. Quietly, of course." Ainz ordered as he folded his hands together in his lap.

"In the Dark Elf Kingdom they now call you the father of the Everplains, and in the Understone Empire they call you the father of Stone. The Sons of Iontariil remained banded together, and draw more from the demihuman tribes in the Abelion Hills, they're forming new schools as well, larger settlements are forming that serve as both military camps and the foundations of great cities in the future." Demiurge reported, "We're having supplies dispatched to them to aid in the construction, along with undead labor for further support."

Aura read off her own document next. "The Beastman Kingdom is asking for official integration, but..." She frowned, "Master, they seem so... weak, are they really worth it? If we wiped out the whole place I could turn it into one big ranch for all my monsters." She scrunched her face up with some distaste.

"S-Sister you're being rude!" Mare said in his nervous sort of way as he wrung his staff in his hands and held it close.

She rubbed her head and looked down with a grimace on her face, "Ah, fine, they're also saying that the other two beastman kingdoms are stirring up trouble at the borders, big countries... kinda. They didn't really know much, just that they've seen skirmishes start happening and King Rargnan is worried."

Silence swept over the throne room. "I took the time to see that they are rebuilt. Threatening the place I took my precious time to save is an insult that will not be forgiven lightly. It'll be a massacre." Ainz said as he looked over to Demiurge.

"Demiurge, have you made any progress in replicating Neia's abilities with other subjects? Her... what did you call it?" Ainz asked.

"Sacred Death Magic."

"Holy Death Magic."

Albedo and Demiurge spoke at once and looked at one another with annoyance over their masters head, they then looked down at him expectantly.

'Oh, my decision... shit.' He paused, then raised one finger, "Yes, that's it." He answered.

'I've gotten better at this but... I feel like a terrible boss when I do this kind of thing to them.' He thought with a brief moment of despair.

"No, no my lord, forgive my incompetent self..." Demiurge immediately began to apologize, only for Ainz to raise his hand to cut it off before it got out of hand.

"It's fine, it hasn't been that long, but make it a priority, along with 'The Project' for the morphomantic item creation, there is no need to respond 'yet'. First we'll integrate Rargnan's kingdom first, but do nothing to discourage or encourage their neighbors. Let them hang themselves by their decision, or step away from the noose. But when they come, I want a massive army of hundreds of thousands of Black Paladins, Red Paladins, and more, to flank my undead. If they choose war, then the many races of my subjects, from the humans and elves to the demihumans, heteromorphs, and beastmen worshipers, will know the wrath of this Imperial God." Ainz said with icy coldness as he easily pronounced the path of desolation.

"Will you make her a general again?" Vanysa asked from down below as she waited for her turn to report.

Ainz looked down to where the demoness stood, she looked up at him with her adoring eyes, but he detected something in her expression that gave him pause.

"You have some doubt about using her this way?" Ainz asked.

She nodded. "I do, master... I took her to get help'n... I don't know if she c'n do all that stuff again. Ah mean if'n yer ok with her dyin, well OK, but ah don't think yer want'n that. Maybe'n ten years she'd be able to again but... ah dunno." The spark in her eyes had faded as she spoke, but it gradually began to return.

"I will keep alternates in mind." Ainz reassured her. 'Though... I have to admit, I wonder if she could unlock the Crusader job class if I sent her on such a campaign?' He shook off the thought.

"What else do you have?" Ainz asked.

"Sire, the elves have set up temples great and small, but they have a shortage of priests to tend them, some have taken to traveling the roads, and there are some disappearances. Not many, but some, between that and the fact that Meidhall's hunt through the former Slane Theocracy for any remaining Agante has taken her South, I think some angry ex-Theocracy people have taken to hiding in the Elf Kingdom in search of revenge." Vanysa said, biting her lower lip with her fangs, it was only that, and the fact that her talons pierced the paper as she clenched it, that told him she was angry. Very, very angry.

"Set some death knights to patrolling the roads, and commit a thousand skeletons to a grid search of the areas where disappearances have happened." Ainz said decisively.

Albedo sighed lovingly as he quickly addressed the problem. He didn't need to look at her to know what was going through her mind, he discreetly looked up at the eight edge assassins on the ceiling, they were already tensing up. 'I'll need to call for containment protocol soon...' He thought to himself, he sighed mentally, 'When did I become used to 'this'?'

_...Illyana's House..._

Neia sat across from her wife in the lightly furnished quarters she'd been living in the last few months. "I want to go somewhere... and I don't know how I feel about it, or how you feel about it, but... I don't think I can go alone. There's things I want to say, want to see, but the people I want to say them to... they're all gone. But the place might still be there, and maybe... if you don't mind, I'd like to have someone to talk to, not just ghosts and memories."

Skana nodded solemnly, she reached over across the small round table and took Neia's shaking hand in hers. "I go, where you go, even if it's to hell itself."

Neia gave a warm, but weak smile to her, a mild flash of her white teeth emerged for a moment, before she stood up, and called for the gate.

_...Northern Holy Roble Kingdom...Neia's Village..._

Neia's heart pounded in her chest. She hadn't seen this place in almost ten years, but she'd never forgotten it. Nor had it changed much since the last time she'd been there. It was still a burnt out ruin.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Skana asked, taking her hand and giving it a small amount of comforting pressure.

"No. I don't, I really don't, but they said it might... help me come to terms with things." Neia replied.

They stood on blasted ground, still hard from the heat of Jaldabaoth's flames so many years before.

"If you say so, my love." Skana said uncertainly. "So where are we standing right now?" She asked.

Neia looked around her, the outline of the place was still obvious. "This would have been my parent's bedroom." She walked a handful or so of steps away, still holding her wife's hand and drawing her in. She stopped a few moments later.

"This... was where my bed was, in my room." Neia said softly.

"So... this is where... you were born, huh?" Skana said. "Every blasted remnant?"

"Was a house, yes, someone lived there, was born there, and probably died there." She walked over the shitwrecked ruin that was nothing but a black outline anymore.

"Over here..." She said softly after walking for a minute, "I first told a boy I liked him. He cried and ran away. I didn't know why he did that, but I figured it out by the third boy." Neia said, biting her lip.

"It was these." She said, pointing at her eyes. "I figured it out over there." She said, and pointed to what was left of a tree trunk. "Back then it was still alive and strong, the other kids had carved their names into it with their crushes." She said as she walked over and touched what was left. "It's all gone now."

She touched the black, blasted trunk. Next to it, the broken part of the tree lay still, it was rotting. Holes were appearing over some names where insects ate their way through the evidence of those who once lived there. Other names were broken off in whole or in part, and the bark and wood beneath long since blown away. "All their names are either already gone, or will be soon, didn't know that until just now. It was still standing when I left this place." Neia said. "The boy I told, I asked if we could carve our names together and I pulled out a knife... he called me a bandit and ran away, there was a little puddle from the rain, it filled up right there." She said and pointed to a hole nearby, "I looked into it by chance and saw my reflection, I'd never really realized what it seemed like until then." Neia shook her head, "I went home, I was really upset, told my mother who said I had eyes like my father and not to worry, I told her how frustrating it was that I wished I didn't have his eyes. That was when she hit me." Neia said as she walked back to the outline of her childhood home.

"She beat me right over there." Neia said softly, pointing to the empty space where a door once stood.

"She didn't tell my dad why, I kind of wish she had. But I started staying away from home after that, and..." Neia paused and bit her lip.

"And?" Skana asked.

"Well my dad noticed I was staying out, I started spending more time in the woods, I tried to say I was practicing hunting, and sometimes it was true. But eventually he figured out I'd leave whenever mom was home."

"He confronted me about it, wouldn't let me leave unless I told him what was the matter." Neia said softly.

"And he hit you?" Skana asked sympathetically, drawing closer by a fraction of an inch.

Neia snorted. "No, frankly if he had that would have been easier, he looked at me like he was embarrassed. It was a long time before I felt comfortable with them again. Funny thing is, all that time in the woods alone made me good enough to become a squire. I suppose they did me a favor." Neia said with sardonic bitterness dripping from her silver tongue.

"The thing is, I always thought that because of these," she pointed to her eyes again, "They were harder on me, not because they didn't like how I looked, or because they didn't like me, but because I looked tougher and more defiant. Like the things they said or did wouldn't hurt as much or at all."

Neia's voice trailed off as she walked the village. "Over there was where the priest lived." She rolled her eyes, "I looked up to him. He seemed to know everything, always had an answer. He actually gave me the idea to serve, like my mother before me."

"My mother didn't want me to do that, and the funny thing is, that actually brought me closer to her, since I knew she was being protective again."

Neia laughed at herself as she said that, "Helped with my father too, since he actually supported me, though I still think my mother was cheating a little bit to expect me to do well against her after all her years of experience, when the only experience I really had was hiding away in the woods so nobody could see me."

"Surely you had friends though..." Skana asked gently.

Neia thought for a moment, "I don't know, I mean does it even matter? They're all dead now."

"How do you know?" Skana asked with a small, doubtful frown.

"I'm the Pope of Black Justice, if I want somebody found and they're alive, they'll be found." Neia said emphatically. "I put in a few inquiries here and there, asking about this or that person I knew from childhood. Trust me, they're all dead, every single one of them. All that is left of them, is this." She said and thrust her pointed finger damningly at the ruined ground of the once village where she stood.

"I'm the only clue that any of them ever lived at all, I remember their names, their faces, what their parents did, it's all up here." Neia said and touched her forehead. "I sometimes wonder why I'm not crazier than Vanysa." She laughed, or one might say, cackled.

"Then I remember," she said and her eyes snapped down to meet the green eye of her wife, "Oh yeah, I'm the one who drew a sword on my wife, shot at and killed children, tore up her own nails and head, tried to kill myself with my assassin's own poison..." Neia's eyes were alight as she spoke, "How could I be more crazy than I already am? She's got nothing on me in that dep-" she started to say when Skana's form fell in on her and her embrace went instantly tight enough to cut off speech.

She buried Neia's face in her chest, and put her hands behind her short hair and stroked gently. Neia's arms were limp at her sides, but Skana did not care, she held the embrace. "You're not crazy. You're NOT. You weren't going to hurt me, I know you weren't... you were just scared, everybody gets scared..." Skana whispered.

"You did what you had to do..." Skana added softly, "If I'd been with you... my bow would have been doing the same as yours."

Neia pushed herself back and looked up at her wife. "That doesn't change anything, how can it? Even if I had no choice because the city would have fallen, that doesn't tell me how to live with myself afterwards! How can I deserve to feel love after that, how can I deserve to have children of my own after... after... that? Can anyone deserve to be a mother, after putting arrows into the hearts of other people's children?"

Skana didn't say anything. What was there to be said? She thought.

"I look around this place..." Neia said softly, "I can hear the taunts and teasing, the rejections because I looked like a violent criminal, and when I think about things later, the things I did, that I ordered done... would you believe I actually envy Remedios?"

"You can't be serious." Skana stated in disbelief.

Neia lowered her head, "I do. She did a lot wrong, but everything she did, she believed she was doing the right thing, even when it was going to lead to more failure and more suffering, she wasn't willing to compromise on saving everybody. Maybe it did eventually drive her mad. But she died... sort of died anyway... thinking she was morally right, when she's finally gone forever, because of how she is, as far as she is concerned, it will be with a clear conscience. I'm going to die a self-confessed child killer who compromised at every turn to achieve my goals. Sometimes I wonder why people hail me as a hero at all."

"Because you actually did save people." Skana said, "You can't forget that. Yes, things went wrong, what do you expect in war? But you didn't strap kids to demihumans, you didn't turn infants into armor or shields. But ultimately your leadership probably saved many lives in that city, including mine. Did you know 'Neia' is the most popular girl's name in the Holy Kingdom?" Skana asked.

"What?" Neia asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah. Mine isn't even fifth." Skana said with a false pout. "Mothers have been naming their children after you for years, because it was through you that they were able to have their children born at all. You made hard choices in impossible times, and because you made those choices, a lot of people got to live, and you do a disservice to the dead and to the living when you forget that."

Neia went quiet, and started to walk again, with Skana falling into step beside her. "Maybe you're right." She said thoughtfully.

"No 'maybe' about it, Neia." Skana said firmly. "Look, you may see yourself as a compromised person who did terrible things for her own goals, but don't forget what those goals were, to save as many people as possible, to save our country from the demihumans, and you DID that. Not alone, no, but you gave the orders others couldn't to achieve a goal others wouldn't. So the people who lived here..." Skana gestured around at the village ruins, "didn't see you for who you were, that doesn't mean they got to decide what you'd grow up to be, and they didn't really understand you back then. They're gone, and a lot of others aren't, because you were there to make yourself a shield. You sacrificed your life for people you didn't even know." Skana said softly and took Neia's hands, she entwined her fingers with those of her wife.

"Who can ask more than that out of anyone, you literally died for that city, and you came back from it to become who you are today, and whatever blemishes there are in you, whatever stains you feel can't be washed away... I love you for them, for everything you are, every little crack is something uniquely yours, and I'll love those little cracks and jagged edges as much as I love your virtues. I'll never fear you, I'll never turn away from you, and I'll hold on to you through all of this. Maybe you can't ever go home again..." Skana said as she looked around at what was left of her wife's former home.

"But you can make a new one, we can make a new one, no more fighting, no more struggling, time to rest at last and start living real lives again." Skana's voice was enthusiastic, and she clenched Neia's fingers tightly.

"I... I don't even know how to do that." Neia said plainly.

"Figuring things out together is what family is all about." Skana retorted as she reached up with one hand and tilted Neia's chin up, so that they met eye to eye. "So we'll do it together, one day at a time, one hour, one minute if that is what it takes. You with me?" Skana asked softly.

"Always." Neia said, and Skana brought her lips down to Neia's and there she kissed her, surrounded by the ruins of a vanished life. When the kiss at last broke, Skana said...

"Always..." She smiled, "That might make for a nice name for a little girl, don't you think?"

Neia blushed, but said nothing as she moved in for another kiss.

'I could get used to this...' Neia thought to herself until the kiss broke, and she whispered to her first and only, "Let's go."

"Back to Illyana's House?" Skana asked tentatively.

Neia lowered her head and shook it slowly, "No... No, I want to go home. I'll visit that other place for help, I know I've got a lot to work on still, and always will. But... what I really want is to go somewhere else."

Skana looked at her with her one questioning eye.

"I want to go home." Neia said softly, and let her head fall to one side against the breasts of her wife.

"That... is something I can't wait to get used to." Skana said delicately as she held the embrace, until the [Gate] opened, and they left Neia's silent village behind them, never to return again.


	24. Acknowledgements & Final Thoughts

**TO BE CONTINUED IN: THE TRIAL: JOURNEY'S END (Pending release following beta in the Discord)**

That's it for the Synod. The world continues to change, a god has risen in every way, and the chaotic heart of the Black Paladin is finally on the road to peace with her world and with herself.

There aren't many stories left for me to finish for this AU (though there is talk of sponsoring the Advent story, we'll have to see how that goes. And of course when Volume 14 comes out, who knows what I'll do with that?

BUT... I really want to focus on my original work, and the surrounding creative projects like the artwork and more of the YouTube readings etc.

**You can read my original work: Scales of Trust **  
**For Free on Patr30n dot com /tellingstories (Only support it if you both want to and can afford to do so)**

Or join the Overlord Fanfiction discord for a very positive creative environment.

Invite code is on my author page

This was a kind of a heavy one to write if you want me to be 100% honest, I did my damnedest to get the representations of depression, PTSD, and the snapshots of the recovery process, as well as the importance of a strong support network, all correct.

ANY FAILURES HERE ARE MY OWN.

Living as I do, with someone who suffers from PTSD, writing this was cathartic and... I hope, helpful. Thank you for following me this far, and I hope to see you on the other side when I release the final arc of Neia's story in 'The Trial: Journey's End'.

A special round of thanks to my tireless beta readers, who put up with both my insane writing pace and my many... many typos, and without whom, this could not be.


End file.
